


Societies and Secrets

by SlightlyNerdyTiget



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-06-04 18:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 103,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15152615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlightlyNerdyTiget/pseuds/SlightlyNerdyTiget
Summary: High school au inspired by the 'What is Love' m/vA new society is set up in school by the Principal. An lgbt society in which Im Nayeon, the only fully out lesbian in school who really just wants to fly under the radar, is chosen to be president. Running a society alongside her theatre club duties will be no easy feat for Nayeon, especially after she captures (or recaptures) the attention of the most popular girl in school, Minatozaki Sana, the girl who was once Nayeon's best friend.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started to write this one day and it's clogging up my phone so I'll put it on here.  
> I'm fairly new to Twice so they may be a bit OOC but I wrote this for my own sake (I was super bored) more than anything else tbh. Having said that, I hope people enjoy reading this.  
> Probably a slow burn for all the ships.  
> Don't really have a plan, just taking it as it comes. I'll probably change the title.  
> Rating may change later if I decide to whack a bit of smut in.  
> Please excuse spelling mistakes.  
> All of the ships (but Michaeng) are inspired by the what is love mv, I thought it was very interesting that the video avoided (for the most part) Twice's major ships (y'know Saida and Namo and Michaeng, etc.).

Nayeon made her way down the school corridor, her best friend Momo close behind. As she approached her locker, she heard giggles beside her. Walking a little bit quicker, Nayeon quickly reached her locker, put in the combination and opened it up to hide her face. She peaked out from behind the locker to stare at the three giggling girls. The three, very pretty, giggling girls. 

There was Mina, the ballet dancer, captain of the school’s dance team, also the student council treasurer. She tucked her short, dark hair behind her ear and chuckled quietly. Mina was much quieter, shyer and more harmless that the other two girls, but she was a heartbreaker. So many boys had tried to date her but she would just string them along until she got bored and then drop them.  
Jihyo was the student council president, the first junior to be awarded the role. It was difficult to dislike Jihyo, but there she was, stood with her best friends, giggling with them.   
Finally there was Sana, pretty Sana, captain of the girls’ basketball team. Part of Mina’s dance team, student council secretary, the most popular girl in school. It probably helped that she was dating the most popular guy in school, for the moment anyway.   
The three most popular girls in school.   
As far as cliques go, they weren’t that bad. But Nayeon couldn’t help but hate them. Well, she hated Sana, no surprise after what she did to Nayeon. Although the other girls weren’t even at that school at the time, Nayeon hated them by default.   
And yet, as she watched Sana laugh and smile, she couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter. Part of her just wanted Sana to notice her. It wasn’t like she didn’t know that Nayeon existed, she just didn’t care about Nayeon’s existence.   
“Wow Nayeon, you’re so gay,” Momo announced a little bit too loudly.   
Nayeon, a known gay, closed her locker and looked over her glasses at her best friend, feeling her cheeks redden.   
Momo smiled in that dumb, clueless way and pointed to the stickers on Nayeon’s locker.   
“Like you can talk, who are you crushing on this week, Momo the homo?” Nayeon spat back jokingly.   
Momo his behind her thick glasses as she mumbled,  
“We all know who you’re crushing on.”

A loud voice cut through the air.   
“Im Nayeon. Report to the principles office.”  
Shocked and confused, Nayeon scuttled off. She overheard a short conversation as she past the popular girls.   
“Im Nayeon? Weird. Is she in trouble?” that was Mina’s voice.   
“I wonder if she’s won a prize or something,” that was Jihyo.   
“For what? Gayest gay? Nerdiest nerd?” of course that was Sana. The girls giggled.   
“I think nerdiest nerd goes to Harai-san,” Mina said quietly.   
The sound of giggles haunted Nayeon’s ears, even after she reached the principle’s office. 

The new principal, Principal Kim, was a middle aged woman with a kind face and soft voice.   
“Miss Im, please don’t look so worried, you aren’t in trouble. But I have a favour to ask.”  
“Yes Principal Kim, sorry,”  
“I know this is a little unorthodox to ask of you. I want this school to be a place where people are free to be themselves. I don’t want a repeat of any incidents, like the one which happened in your freshman year, Miss Im.”  
Seeing Nayeon’s flushed cheeks, the principle continued,  
“Yes, I’ve read about that incident. There are no judgements here Miss Im. I called you here because I want to set up a new society. An lgbt society, for students who are part of the lgbt community and their allies. I want you to be the president of the society.”  
“Me? Why me?”  
“Why not you? You are an asset to the school Miss Im, your grades are outstanding, your efforts within the theatre club as their unofficial treasurer and secretary have not gone unnoticed by the drama faculty, and the rest of the staff even, and your... um... sexual preferences are apparently well known by the faculty and students.”  
Nayeon’s mind went blank.   
“Sure. Okay.” she found herself saying.  
“Excellent. Now, for me to be able to make the society official, you need a vice president, a secretary and a treasurer. And a student council rep to liaise with the student council about any issues and attend the termly meeting with the rest of the societies. They can share another role, for example the secretary may also be the rep but that's up to you to decide.”  
“Right.”  
“Since the society is new, I’ll allow you to find the people for the positions yourself. Come back to me in a week. I want to make the society official before we have our societies' fair for the freshman, and of course older students, next week. I want to know your plans for the society too. I hope you can make this happen, Miss Im, I’ll be disappointed if we can’t set this up.”  
Nayeon stuttered out a thank you and bowed politely. She left the office feeling completely bewildered. 

She could feel panic rising in her chest. As soon as Nayeon scuttled into her first class, she sat down and began to unravel what just happened inside of her head.   
“Right, I’m now president of a new society, the lgbt society, which is totally cool because it’s not like my sexuality has ever been a hot topic in this school or a massive source of my insecurities. I have to find four more queers to run a society that I don’t really even want to run myself. I have to make a plan of ideas for what the society can do. And then I have to report back to Principal Kim to make the society official. All within a week. What the fuck?”


	2. Chapter 2

Nayeon ran (and by ran I mean walked quickly because she was not the type of girl to get detention) out of her classroom and hurried towards her locker, waiting for Momo, like she usually did. As soon as the short-haired girl appeared, with a slightly panicked look on her face, Nayeon ran (again walked quickly) at her and pulled her into the nearest bathroom.  
"Momo Momo Momoring," Nayeon said, "I have news. Important news. Really important news."  
"Me too,"   
"I'm going to go first. My news is more important,"  
"Okay..."  
Nayeon stopped suddenly and looked around the toilets. Only one stall was occupied. She froze for a minute, wondering if she should wait till that girl left but she couldn't wait. The news was ready to burst from her lips.  
"I'm the president of the lgbt society. Principal Kim called me into her office to talk about the new lgbt society of which I'm the president! I have to find a vice president, a treasurer, secretary and I have to come up with stuff for us to do all before the societies fair next week." Nayeon said so fast it would have been a miracle if Momo understood any of what she said.  
Momo stared at her blankly, her big dark eyes blinking rapidly behind her thick spectacles.  
"Eh?" she eventually said.  
"Momo, there's going to be an lgbt society. And I'm going to be the president." Nayeon said slowly, enunciating every word.  
Before the nerdier girl could reply, the toilet suddenly flushed. The door opened dramatically, revealing none other than Minatozaki Sana.  
"You're setting up an lgbt society? Really Nayeon?" she laughed harshly as she approached the sink. She washed her hands with her back to the two other girls.  
Momo shrank against the wall. Nayeon stuttered, "um, well, I, it's more..."  
Sana turned to face the other two, flicking her long dark hair over one shoulder.  
"The Principal will never make that kind of society real. You must be stupid if you believe that she will. Even if she does approve your new society, it will have to go through student council and Jihyo might not give her stamp of approval. Even if she does and your little gay club gets set up, no one will join but you and Hirai-san."  
"How did you know that I'm-" the short-haired girl began but she was interrupted by Sana.  
"Oh please. It's obvious. Besides, no one will join your club because people will find out who has joined and then the people in your gay club will have basically outed themselves to the whole school. And we all know how it went last time someone publicly outed themselves, don't we?"   
Nayeon's heart began to race as Sana stepped closer. She felt her cheeks warm. She was definitely blushing with anger. Just anger, with a hint of shame.  
"I didn't out myself," Nayeon spat out bravely, then immediately sank back and pushed her glasses up her nose. Sana gave her a look of disgust then laughed haughtily.  
"Good luck setting up gay club" she said loudly as she sauntered out of the toilets.   
Still pressed up against the wall, Momo murmered to herself, clearly panicking, "how did she know?"  
"Momo you have a rainbow pin on your bag."  
"Oh yeah."

Nayeon pressed her forehead against the cool bathroom wall and sighed.  
"Are you really setting up a gay club? Is that true?" a familiar voice asked hesitantly. Nayeon turned to face the newcomer. It was a pale girl with blonde hair and a long coat, a junior who Nayeon recognised from theatre club. "Because that's pretty awesome if you are. It's about time us gays got some recognition."  
"You're Dahyun, right?" The girl, Dahyun, nodded enthusiastically and smiled, her eyes turned into half moons.   
"The Principal wants me to set up an lgbt society. Practically by myself. I don't know if anything will happen, I don't even have a committee." Nayeon admitted, rubbing her curly hair.  
"Can I be on the committee?" the cheeky junior asked.  
"Er sure," the other girl replied, completely stunned for the third time that day.   
The pale girl grinned, "Awesome. You won't regret this, unnie!" And with that she ran out.   
"Are she and that sophomore Son Chaeyoung dating?" Momo asked innocently.  
"Not the time, Momo."  
"Right."  
Slightly encouraged that there may be people willing to join her society, even if it was weirdos like Dahyun, Nayeon turned to face her friend with a smile.  
"Be my vice president," she asked, well demanded really.  
After thinking for a few moments, the other girl agreed, as long as Nayeon promised that there would be food at their meetings.

The two girls left the toilets and began to head to their next class.  
"Oh, what was your news?" the brunette asked her nerdier friend, who walked beside her holding her backpack straps nervously.  
"Oh yeah. I overheard Myoui Mina and Park Jihyo talking. Myoui Mina is coming to my dance studio. To learn hip-hop."  
"Oh shit!" Nayeon whispered. "Don't you teach hip-hop?"  
"Yeah, my teachers offered me the job last year, remember. I only teach beginners though. The class is mainly kids, probably way above Myoui-san.”  
“Y’know, I still find it weird that you, Sana and Mina use Japanese honorifics to refer to each other.”  
“We’re Japanese, Nayeon, it’s only polite,”  
Nayeon snorts unattractively. Suddenly Momo stops and turns to face her friend with wide eyes.  
“What if Myoui-san is in the same class as me? I’ll have no way of avoiding her! Then she’ll tell everyone that I’m actually a dancer and everyone will start to actually pay attention to me and that won’t be good because I’m me and everyone will hate me instead of just ignoring me.”  
“Woah Momo chill. People won’t hate you, you’re a precious little peach. Besides, who’s to say that Myoui will recognise you without your glasses?”  
Momo laughs at this.  
“You’re right Nayeon. I’m panicking over nothing, right?”  
“Of course I’m right. I’m Im Nayeon. My name is basically a synonym for ‘right’.”

That very same night, Nayeon lay on top of her bed and scrolled through her phone, looking for a certain person’s name. She pressed the call button and waited.  
“What is it? You never call me. What did you do?”   
“Yoo Jeongyeon. I need your help.”  
“You? Im Nayeon? Need my help?” the voice on the other phone laughed noisily.   
“I’m serious Jeongyeon. I genuinely need your help.”  
“Okay, fine. What do you need?”  
“You like girls, right? In a gay way?”  
“Yes, Nayeon, you know I like girls. In a bisexual way.”  
“Whatever, you snowflake. I need your help. Principal Kim wants me to set up an lgbt society within a week and I don’t even know where to start. All I have at the moment is me as the president, Momo as vice and that Dahyun girl.”  
“Oh Dahyun! She’s a good laugh. Is she dating Chaeyoung?”  
“I’m not sure I even know who Chaeyoung is!”  
“She’s the tiny one who’s always covered in paint. What do you want me to do? I’ll join your club if you want me to. Could be fun.”  
“Great, I need you to be the student council rep.”  
“How about no? I’m already the student council rep for the theatre club, Nayeon. And with me directing and producing this year instead of just acting, on top of photography club, I can’t even be part of your committee.”  
“Will you at least help with publicity and all of that crap? Please? For your bestest friend in the whole world?”  
“Firstly, you’re not my best friend. Secondly, sure. If you agree to actually be in the play this year. We’ve lost pretty much all of our actors to university so we’re scraping the barrel.”  
“I knew there was a reason I liked you, Yoo Jeongyeon,” Nayeon paused for a moment. “Hey! What do you mean scraping the barrel! I may be a nerd but I am very talented thank you very much.”  
“Okay bye, grandma” Jeongyeon said quickly and hung up before Nayeon could begin to rant at her.

The next morning, there was a poster on the walls. A big, obnoxious rainbow which read,  
“Students Wanted! Lgbt society currently in the process of being set up. Any students, gay, straight or anything in between, who wish to run for committee, give suggestions or take part please report to room 21 after school.”

One particular girl, a Japanese girl with long dark hair and a strikingly pretty face eyed one of these posters. She looked around the empty hallway. Seething, she ripped the poster from the wall.


	3. Chapter 3

Momo lay on her back, enjoying the feel of the cold studio floors against her back. She breathed heavily. After a few moments she sat up slowly and made her way to the centre of the room. She looked at herself in the mirror. Gone was nerd Momo. Here was dancer Momo. Her hair still sat flat against her face but gone were her thick glasses, replaced instead by contact lenses that she still hated putting in. Touching eyeballs isn’t natural! Gone was the baggy shirt and the skirt that was one size to big for her, replaced instead by a sports bra and tight leggings, she had lost her top a while a ago. Her abs glistened with sweat. Momo could be hot if she wanted to be.   
She marked through her dance once more before dancing flat out to the music.   
When she finished, she heard applause from the door. Her dance teacher wondered in, followed by a couple of group of younger girls, all probably about 11.   
“And that girls, is how to dance hip-hop. Ah Momo-yah you’ve really outdone yourself this time. You did the choreo yourself I assume,” the teacher announced to the room.   
“Yes, I did,” she replied politely, still panting. Momo noticed the time on the clock above the mirrors. “Ah, I’m sorry. I lost track of time. I should have left this studio five minutes ago.”  
“The girls were enjoying watching you dance, I’ll let you off this time.”  
Momo bowed politely and said her goodbyes. She picked up her things and scuttled out of the studio, her bad posture immediately returning.   
She went and sat in the changing room and grabbed her water bottle. She pulled her phone out of her bag. Twenty minutes till her next class. A message from Nayeon popped up. Apparently Jeongyeon was aboard the whole lgbt society thing.   
Someone burst into the changing room.   
“This is the senior changing room, right?”   
Momo knew that voice. She didn’t even need to turn around to see who it was. Myoui Mina. Of course.   
“Yes,” she replied curtly.   
She heard the girl sit down on a bench.   
“I’m Myoui Mina. I moved from my old studio to here because I heard that the hip-hop training is second to none and that’s what I need to work on. The ballet is quite prestigious too. Today’s my first day here. I don’t really know where anything is. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to, other than the receptionist. Is the teacher nice? I mean, is she the type to shout and scream and criticise your weight or is she supportive? Sorry. I’m nervous.”  
Her voice was soft, but she sounded nervous, like she might have a breakdown at any minute. It tugged on Momo’s heartstrings, hearing the anxiety in Mina’s voice. Enough for her to do something stupid.   
She turned and spoke in Japanese, “Hello Myoui-san, I’m Hirai Momo. Are you in the senior advanced hip-hop? That’s the class I’m going to next.”

Nayeon burst into room 21 at the end of school and dropped her bag on the desk. Her best friend followed close behind. They were immediately joined by Jeongyeon. As soon as the other girls sat down, the eldest took a package from her bag and placed it in front of Momo, who hurriedly opened it and began to hungrily devour the contents while Jeongyeon watched in horror. The Japanese girl noticed the other girl watching and smiled at her, while her mouth was full of food.   
“In this house we don’t call people pigs, we call them Momos,” Nayeon announced, breaking the silence in the room.   
“Is anyone even coming, Nayeon?” Jeongyeon asked.   
“Dahyun will. We just need at least one more person to fill the committee quota,”

Fifteen minutes later, Dahyun burst through the door, waving a massive rainbow flag. She did a twirl then threw the flag behind her. It landed on the girl who followed her, who screeched and stopped in the doorway. The girl at the back of the back bumped right into the flag covered girl (although stepped on would probably be a more accurate way of putting it since the height difference was so large) and shouted something, presumably a swear word, in Chinese.   
“And that kids is how to make an entrance,” Dahyun declared with a bow.   
“Well that entrance touched the ground. Eh?” Jeongyeon said with a shit eating grin. The figure under the flag began to laugh and shake. “Do you get it? The American flag can’t touch the ground. Flag?”  
“That doesn’t make sense,” the tall girl remarked, her expression bored.   
“You don’t make sense,” the short-haired girl replied childishly.   
“Could everyone just sit down and introduce themselves?” Nayeon said. She was far too stressed to join the banter and Dahyun’s grand entrance had put her in a bad mood.   
Dahyun sat herself down. The short girl removed the flag from her head, revealing her long orange locks and big eyes, and went and sat on a desk between her friend and Jeongyeon. The tall girl, Chou Tzuyu, Nayeon recognised as one of the popular girls. Well, kind of. Tzuyu was the type of girl who was naturally popular, she was on the athletics team, managed to bag a lead role in the play as a freshman and was absolutely stunning, but she wasn’t bothered by popularity at all. She sat next to Momo who took one look at the girl and flushed bright red. 

“Let’s all introduce ourselves. I’m Nayeon. I’m a lesbian. I’m the president of the lgbt society, or I will be once it’s set up. This is Hirai Momo, she is also a lesbian and she is my vice president,” the president announced.   
“I’m Jeongyeon, y’all know me from theatre. I’m a senior. I’m not running for anything committee related. Oh and I’m bi.”  
“I’m Dahyun. I’m a lesbian. I’m a junior. I want to be part of the committee, I guess I’d probably be best at treasurer. I’m not too bad at maths.”  
“I’m Chaeyoung. I’m also a lesbian but I prefer to use the term gay. I’m a sophomore. Ignore Dahyun, she is a genius when it comes to numbers.”  
(“Oh so you’re Chaeyoung” Nayeon mumbles to herself.)  
“I’m Tzuyu. I’m straight actually. I’m a sophomore too and I’d love to be your secretary.”

Once the introductions were made, Nayeon turned to Tzuyu with a confused grin.   
“If you’re straight, why do you want to be on the committee?”  
“I guess you need a token hetero,” she replied, “I also want to support my friends.”  
The girls in the room laughed at her reply.   
Nayeon stood up,  
“Right so, Dahyun you’re our new treasurer and Tzuyu you’re our secretary. All we need now is a student council rep. Chaeyoung?”  
The small girl shook her orange head, “no way. I’m not doing that.”  
“Chaeyoung spends more time painting than she does breathing. If she’s not painting then she’s writing awesome poetry and helping theatre club like the babe she is,” Dahyun said, reaching over to pat her blushing friend’s knee.   
“Bro,” said Chaeyoung holding her heart.   
“Bro.” Dahyun replied solemnly.   
“Bro is their always,” Tzuyu deadpanned.   
“Well, council rep? Anyone? No?” the president tried again. Everyone avoided eye contact.   
“Why can’t you do it, unnie?” the shortest girl asked.   
“Minatozaki Sana,” the brunette replied sourly.   
“You children don’t know do you?” Jeongyeon asked, regarding the two sophomores’ blank faces. “Sana and Nayeon used to be best friends. But they grew apart in Freshman year. Then Sana outed Nayeon in front of the whole school. It was a mess.”  
“What happened?”  
Nayeon coughed, “that’s enough for now. I’ll be the goddam rep. Can we get back on track?”  
Out of nowhere, Momo remarked, “I could never be a president. I’m too easily bribed by food.”

Once they talked through their ideas for the ‘gay agenda’ (the name Dahyun gave to the society’s plans), all of the girls but the president and Vice President got up and left. Nayeon looked over her notes and scratched her head, she knew better than to try to run her hands through her frizzy, untamed hair.   
“Ah, I think we’ll have to leave out the bit about making out with each other in the corridors. Not Dahyun’s finest suggestion,” she finally said.   
“Why not? It will make people get used to us gays being about,” the short haired girl replied.   
“You just want to get off with Tzuyu,” Nayeon said accusingly.   
Momo blushed but vehemently denied having a crush on her, saying “she’s straight” over and over. The brunette laughed abrasively. Once she stopped, Momo interrupted the silence.   
“Mina-san is in the same class as me. She started yesterday.”  
“Oh? She’s Mina now is she? Not Myoui?”  
“We talked yesterday. She’s actually really nice. She said some stuff. She also agreed to keep my secret. The funny thing is, when I asked her to keep my dancing a secret, she told me ‘sure, I’ll add it to the list’,” the dancer said quietly.   
“She’ll add it to the list? Weird.”

Minatozaki Sana stormed into the student council and slammed her bag onto the table. She rifled around in it then slammed a piece of paper on the table.   
“Jihyo, what is this?” she demanded. The president finally looked up from what she was working as Mina lurked round the doorframe and gingerly approached the other two, making sure to close the door behind her.   
“It’s a poster,” Jihyo replied.   
Sana spotted Mina and pulled her into a tight hug.   
“How was dance?” she said softly, her rage gone for the moment.   
“Good,” the dancer replied shyly.   
Sana pulled away and turned back to the president angrily, slapping her hand on the poster.   
“Im Nayeon is setting up a gay club. I overheard her talking about it yesterday. Is that girl actually stupid?” she exclaimed.   
“Sana, I already knew before she put the posters up,” the president sighed, “Principal Kim is setting up an lgbt society. Mainly to give lgbt people a community within our school but also to help with acceptance. So no more incidents happen.”  
The vice president flushed red and fiddled with the bottom of her blazer.   
“That wasn’t my fault you know. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that,” she whispered.   
“We know, Sana. You’ve told us,” Mina piped up.   
“Can we disapprove gay club?” Sana asked.   
“Why should we?” Jihyo asked.   
“The school won’t accept it! They’ll beat the shit out of anyone who even goes near that club,”  
“Aw Sana, do you actually care?” Jihyo teased.   
“No! I have a boyfriend remember!” she replied. Mina snorted. “I just feel bad about the Imcident and I don’t want it to happen again.”   
“Perhaps it will help prevent one. People will get more accustomed to gay people being about and it might help people to be more open about their sexualities,” Mina said softly.   
“Besides, it will be good for the younger students. They’ll have someone to go to if they are questioning. I would have a appreciated a society like that when I figured out that I’m bi,” the president finished.   
The vice president sighed in resignation and finally agreed, albeit reluctantly. A phone buzzed and Jihyo pulled her phone out of her pocket.   
“Ah. Jeongyeon says that they’ve just finished the meeting. There were six altogether, including Jeongyeon. Im is president and council rep, Hirai vice, Chou Tzuyu is sec and Kim Dahyun treas. There’s also Son Chaeyoung.”  
Mina made a funny noise then cleared her throat and said, “Are they dating? Dahyun and Chaeyoung?”  
“Why do you want to know?” Sana asked teasingly.   
Mina made a another funny noise.   
“What was that?”  
“Taxi,” Mina said staring directly at Sana who froze.   
“No. Don’t start. Don’t. Please,” she begged.   
Together, the other two girls began to clap and chant, “Mr taxi taxi taxi.”  
Sana whined and pressed herself against the wall.   
The chanting and singing stopped when Sana climbed under Jihyo’s desk and refused to leave.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter there isn’t much plot going on, just a fun time with the maknaes and a way to start introducing relationships.

It was lunch time, the day after the first lgbt meeting, and Dahyun and Chaeyoung were sat on a bench outside. Chaeyoung sat calmly at the bench with her sketchbook open, drawing cartoonish doodles all over the page. Dahyun sat with her back against the table, her face towards the sun. A pair of sunglasses sat upon her face.

A shadow appeared over Dahyun’s face. The blonde girl smiled and shifted along the bench.  
“Sit down, Chewy. You’re making me nervous, you stood there with your tray,” she said.  
The tall girl smiled and began to sit between her friends, then walked around the table and sat opposite the girls instead. The three continued to sit in silence for a while, the only noise being the sound of chatter coming from inside of the school, the sound of pencil gliding over paper and the soft sound of Tzuyu chewing. After a while the Taiwanese girl broke the silence.  
“You two would never lie to me, right?” she said slowly. Dahyun immediately turned to face the other girl and Chaeyoung looked up from her sketchbook, dropping her pencil onto the page.  
“Of course we wouldn’t, Tzuyu,” the girls replied in tandem, then grinned at each other when they realised they had spoken at the same time.  
“Good.”  
They were silent again for a few moments before Tzuyu spoke again.  
“It’s just, Mina asked me today, ‘Are Chaeyoung and Dahyun dating?’” she began. At the mere mention of the Japanese girl’s name, Chaeyoung spluttered loudly, “and I said no but she was the fifth person to ask me today. When so many people ask, you begin to wonder if your friends have been lying to you,” she admitted quietly.  
The two accused girls exchanged a look of confusion.  
“Of course we aren’t dating, Tzuyu. We’re bros!” Dahyun exclaimed, “And you’d be the first person to know if we were.”  
“Yeah, Dubu would be so excited that she would literally run to your place and scream it at you,” Chaeyoung laughed, “Can you even imagine us to together? Dayoung? We’d be a terrible couple. Anyway, I’m off to piss.”  
And with that, the short girl flicked her orange hair off her shoulder and got up, giving Dahyun a playful shove as she did.  
“Our ship name is Dubchaeng and you know that!” Dahyun shouted after her.  
The blonde girl turned to sit facing the bench and took her sunglasses off. She rested her head in her hands with a pout.  
“So she still doesn’t know, huh? You really should tell her,” Tzuyu said wisely.  
“You heard what she said, Tzuyu! She laughed at the mere idea of us two together. Laughed! Besides, you saw her splutter and get all hot and bothered when you mentioned Mina. She has her heart set on a girl and that girl is not me,” Dahyun panted as she finished.  
“Breathe, Dahyun. We don’t want you having an anxiety attack, do we?”  
The blonde girl shook her head.  
“Have you already had one today?”  
The blonde girl nodded.  
Before either of the two girls could continue talking, Chaeyoung bounced back towards them and sat down. Tzuyu noted that her cheeks were red and her eyes seemed slightly puffy. She made a note to ask her about it later.  
“Okay lads. Bed, wed, behead,” the short girl announced.  
“Why do we still do that one and not the normal one?” Tzuyu groaned.  
“Because its funnier and it reminds me of you having to kiss Jeongyeon last year in Romeo and Juliet and how panicked you were about your first kiss,” Chaeyoung said, making the tall girl put her head in her hands.  
“Fine. Bed, wed, behead the student council. With reasons. Dahyun go,” Tzuyu said.  
“Um, bed Jihyo. I’m a boob guy. Wed Mina, she’s super pretty and absolute babe. Apparently, she’s also a good cook so she’d be a fantastic wife. This is the hard one, I could either kill one of those douchebag guys that are on the council, or I could kill Sana. I’ll behead Sana because I saw that video where she outed Nayeon and it was not pretty,” Dahyun finished.  
“Video?” the two girls asked.  
“Um, yeah. That’s um- Chaeyoung-ah! My favourite cub, bed, wed, behead… Principal Kim, Miss Park and Mr Liu.”  
“Tzuyu’s hot, young mandarin teacher? I’ll behead him, he’s a guy. Bed Miss Park because I want to wed Principal Kim. She has power and I like that,” Chaeyoung decided then turned to Tzuyu with a grin, “Okay, Chewy. Bed, wed, behead gay club.”  
“Lgbt society,” Tzuyu said with a sigh and had a little think. “Well, bed Jeongyeon-unnie because she’s a good kisser, even if she is a pain.” The other girls oohed and made kissy noises. “Shut up. I’d behead Nayeon-unnie because, well, she’s annoying. So that means I’d wed Momo-unnie.”  
“You could have wedded one of us two, you know,”  
“I know. But the nerd thing is cute and I think she has a crush on me, so I’ll marry Momo-unnie.”  
Dahyun shook her head, “Ah, that’s our Tzuyu, breaking all the girl’s hearts just by existing and being the straight-ass hetero that she is.”

Chaeyoung had just left the bench. She had to after Tzuyu’s question about her and Dahyun. Why did she have to shit on their potential relationship? Now Dahyun would assume that Chaeyoung didn’t like her that way.   
She barely got inside the school when the tears began to fall. She felt so pathetic. Her crush on the older girl was so new but so intense that it startled the poor cub. She had only ever saw her as a friend, until they overheard people asking if they were a couple. It was like that opened a floodgate of feelings that Chaeyoung was not prepared for. All of a sudden, whenever Dahyun hugged or even touched her, her heart would race. Dahyun’s goofy faces made her stomach do somersaults. Her antics made Chaeyoung giggle. Giggle. Chaeyoung was an artist. She not giggle.   
Of course, as Chaeyoung was rushing to the toilets to hide her crush induced breakdown, her other crush bumped into her.   
“Oh, I’m sorry, Chaeyoung. Are you okay?” Myoui Mina asked, her eyes full of concern. She took one look at the tear that fell down Chaeyoung’s cheek and frowned. “Clearly not.”  
The shorter girl sniffled, “You know my name?”  
Mina laughed. A delightful, high pitched sound that made Chaeyoung melt.   
“Of course I do, we have mutual friends,” she chuckled.   
“Tzuyu.”  
“What’s up?”  
“The sky.”  
“Sorry?”  
“Sorry, I meant, nothing really. It’s silly,” Chaeyoung looked away from Mina’s intense gaze. Her eyes fell onto the moles on cheeks.   
“It can’t be that silly,”  
“No it is,” Chaeyoung panicked and lied, “I lost my favourite pencil.”  
Mina laughed again. Chaeyoung couldn’t help but pout, thinking how the older girl must think she must seem so childish and immature to such an elegant and mature being.   
“Ah, I’m sorry. Clearly it means a lot you. I’ll help you find a new one?”  
“I have plenty of other pencils. I just threw my favourite away in a moment of panic,” the short girl said.   
Mina reached out suddenly and held the younger girl’s cheek. She wiped away the last remaining tear with her thumb. Surely she could feel the heat rising in Chaeyoung’s cheeks.   
“No more tears, okay?”  
“Yes, unnie.”  
They stayed in that position for a moment more, Chaeyoung stood frozen solid, staring into the eyes of the girl who was holding her face, softly stroking her cheek with her thumb.   
The Japanese girl pulled away with a cough.   
“I best go.”  
Chaeyoung could only nod and watch the other go. Her skin still burned where Mina had touched her. She was fucked.

Elsewhere in the school, Im Nayeon stepped out of the principal’s office with a smug look on her face. Momo, who had been sat waiting outside, stood up and smiled tentatively.   
“We’ve been approved, Momo, my peachy little pal. Jihyo and Principal Kim approved us. Lgbt society is going to be real!”


	5. Chapter 5

The teacher stood on the small, grubby stage and shouted, “Welcome, children, to Theatre club. I have been running this club for ten years now and, since I’ve been running it so well, I will pass over to my students, as I always do. A big hand please for your new director and producer, Yoo Jeongyeon.”  
The teacher bowed dramatically and scuttled off stage. Nayeon sighed audibly. For the four years that Nayeon had been at that school, the teacher had done the same speech every year, just introducing a new director each time. She probably could have dressed up as the theatre teacher and done it herself. It might have saved time.  
Jeongyeon stood up in the auditorium and waved to the small group of people around her.  
“I’m not going up there, I’m just going to say what we’re gonna do this year down here,” she declared, seemingly confidently but Nayeon saw the way she looked around nervously.  
Nayeon herself looked around the auditorium to see who was there. Obviously, there was Tzuyu, the newest star of theatre club, and Dahyun and Chaeyoung were there too, sat side by side. The blonde, who was wearing sunglasses indoors like an idiot, tended to play comedy roles while Chaeyoung, who had paint on her cheek and a pencil behind her ear, usually messed around with the set design, hence why Nayeon hadn’t had much interactions with her prior to this week. There were a couple of boys, Nayeon thought they were both sophomores but she wasn’t sure, and that was pretty much it. Other than Momo who she had managed to drag with her, but she didn’t really count since she was insistent that she would not even consider going out on that stage. Considering that theatre club used to be most popular club in school, after the sports teams of course, the turnout was a bit pathetic, Nayeon thought.  
“As you know, we do a winter play, a spring musical and a Shakespeare play in summer. I’m thinking something more modern and edgy for the musical and I like the idea of doing a tragedy for Shakespeare, maybe King Lear or Hamlet,” Jeongyeon said, clearly easing into the speaking role, “but for the winter play, I want to do something different. Everyone knows that the winter play is more of a precursor to the big musical in spring, it drums up interest and we do it on a tight budget so that we can afford more for the musical. This year, I want to do more of a showcase type thing. I want to put on a show that includes snippets of musicals, movies, K-dramas, music videos, anything under the sun. The show will be called ‘What is Love?’ with love, particularly the idealised love that is often portrayed by the media, as the theme.”  
She paused at this point and waited for any comments or objections. Nayeon gave her a sneaky thumbs up from where she sat and glanced around. Everyone else seemed enthralled by the idea. Jeongyeon cleared her throat.  
“I have some ideas for what to include. I want a song from La la land, that’s popular at the moment so will make good advertising. We can probably recycle a scene or two from Romeo and Juliet, if Tzuyu’s up for that. Don’t worry, I won’t make you kiss me again.”  
Everyone laughed at that statement. “I want to include some iconic scenes from famous romantic films, both western and Korean. I think it might be fun to include some original work as well, or some scenes from less well known plays and movies. If anyone has ideas, let me know. I want us to work well as a club. I’ll wait until I have a more solid plan before I do auditions and that type of thing but, yeah. Just let me know if you have any ideas or requests. And by let me know, I mean let Nayeon know. She’s my secretary.”  
Nayeon stood up, “Hi, I’m Im Nayeon. I am not Yoo Jeongyeon’s secretary, I am the club’s unofficial secretary and treasurer and by that, I mean I do the club’s admin stuff and make sure we can actually afford to do whatever crazy stuff Jeongyeon wants us to do. So, don’t come to me with ideas. Thank you.” The brunette sat back down again, listening to the muffled laughter of Dahyun and Chaeyoung.  
Tzuyu’s voice piped up, “I don’t know if you noticed, Jeongyeon, but there aren’t very many of us. How do you think we’ll manage it with so little of us? There’s costume changes to think of, amongst other things.”  
“I’m hoping to get more freshman input,” Jeongyeon started, “And with the format, I was hoping that people might be willing to put in their two cents to do a number or something. We can get band and choir involved, get them to do some music stuff to fill time. If all else fails I can probably convince Jihyo to sing some love ballads in between scenes to allow time for costume changes. She’s got a good pair of lungs on her.”  
“How the hell are you going to get Park Jihyo, student council president to sing for a bunch of theatre nerds?” Chaeyoung asked with a snort.  
“Childhood friends. Besides, Jihyo loves a good chance to show off that big loud voice of hers,” Jeongyeon said, “She’d be a full-on idol if her parents had allowed her to audition.”  
Quiet murmurs ran through the (tiny) crowd. The boys were nodding to each other in approval, probably happy that they’d get to act as a boyfriend to so many pretty girls, even though it seemed most of them were gay, Nayeon noted to herself.  
Jeongyeon smiled nervously at the crowd and rubbed her neck, pulling down the collar to reveal her collarbone, and the circle of small red marks that sat on it.  
Nayeon stood up and pointed, “Yoo Jeongyeon, has someone bitten you?”

A week later, Nayeon rushed to the school hall holding a pack of paper, a pack of pens and a large bag of sweets. As she approached the hall, the teacher who was stood by the door held her hand out and stopped the panicked brunette.  
“Freshman aren’t allowed in the hall yet. Come back in half an hour,” she said.  
Nayeon could only look at this woman in disbelief.  
“I’m a senior!” she exclaimed, barging into the hall.  
The room itself was a sight to behold. Desks lined the walls and the centre of the room. Students stood beside the desks arranging the posters and notice boards and all the flashy decorations used to attract students to their society.  
Nayeon quickly looked round the room, her eyes settling on the desk which had a rainbow draped across it, and then headed towards her society’s table. She dumped the stuff in her arms onto the table, opened the pack of pens and sweets and began to draw up a table on the pad of paper.  
“I can’t believe that Im Nayeon, President of the lgbt society is late to setting up her own stand,” Jeongyeon said, coming upA behind the older girl to rub her frizzy hair.  
“I’ve been here longer than you, Jeongyeon. I had to go get some stuff,”  
The short haired girl took a sweet, “Bribing kids now, are we?”  
“Shut up. I’m not in the mood. I was mistaken for a freshman just now.”  
Jeongyeon laughed heartily, “well you do look twelve. I’ve gotta go back to theatre club now. I’ve stolen Tzuyu from you so that I’m not by myself. Oh, and Jihyo’s doing the rounds.”  
And with that, the blonde sauntered off.  
Not long later, Momo wandered towards the stand with a dazed look on her face, closely followed by Dahyun and Chaeyoung.  
“Oh, hi Chaeyoung. I didn’t know you were joining us today,” Nayeon said as politely as she could.  
“I’m not,” the orange haired girl retorted. She gave her blonde friend a hug that seemed to last a couple of seconds too long and walked off towards the art club stand, giving one of the guys there a high five. Nayeon could have sworn she heard someone ask in passing if “Kim Dahyun and that sophomore girl are dating”.  
Before Nayeon could give the other two girls their orders, Jihyo appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.  
“Hello! It’s lovely to see you and your society here at the society fair. Do you have any questions for me about today” she said, probably just repeating the same thing she said to the rest of the groups.  
“No?” Nayeon said. The president looked the stall up and down with a smile.  
“Seriously, it’s great to see you here Nayeon. I’m really pleased that you managed to set this up on such short notice. I think that it’ll do wonders for the queer people in our school. If I weren’t so busy with student council, I’d join in a heartbeat,” the president said with a kind smile. Nayeon froze and processed what the other girl had just told her.  
“How do you plan on getting people to join?” the voice sent shivers down Nayeon’s spine. She nervously pushed her glasses up her nose when she saw Sana stood beside the president in her sports uniform. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, revealing her elegant neck. Nayeon had always liked it when Sana tied her hair back. Momo nudged Nayeon in the back, bringing her back to reality. She hated Minatozaki Sana.  
“Well, Sana, we don’t expect many people to join right away, we just want to drum up interest. As you so kindly pointed out, people won’t join if they think others will know that they’ve joined. That’s why we intend to keep the room that we meet in secret, only members, and anyone who wishes to join us, will be able to attend the meetings. All members will be able to contact the committee at any time to talk about any issues if they can’t wait till the meeting and everything is confidential.”  
“So you’re encouraging people to remain closeted?” Sana said.  
“No, we’re keeping things secret to protect members so that they can choose when to come out. And not be outed by someone else,” Nayeon stares pointedly at Sana, who at least had the decency to look a little ashamed.  
“What a fantastic idea!” Jihyo interrupted the awkward, silent staring contest between her vice president and the lgbt society president. “Anyway, I’ve got quite a few more societies to get round. Good luck!”  
And with that, she turned around and pulled Sana away.  
“Did you just make Minatozaki Sana blush?” asked Dahyun.  
The nerdy brunette grunted. She turned to look at the shorter haired girl beside her, who seemed to be off in her own little world. The Japanese girl was usually a bit out of it, but she was a lot quieter than usual.  
“Are you alright Momo?” the older girl asked, “You seem a bit quiet and y’know off.”  
Momo looked at Nayeon and whispered ominously, “I’ve seen things.”

After the last of the freshmen filed out of the hall, Nayeon took at look at the sign up sheet on her desk. There were five people who signed up, three freshmen boys, one freshman girl and a sophomore boy who was apparently new to the school. Nayeon thought about the freshmen boys who signed up, only one was gay, he had dragged his friends to the stand and signed up by himself, saying that the others didn’t have to join him, but they did, despite being straight. Nayeon thought the gay boy was going to to cry. Hell, she thought she was going to cry.   
Maybe times were changing after all.   
By the time they had finished, Momo had already dashed off to go to dance class, since the fair was after school. Nayeon, out of the goodness of her heart (definitely because she couldn’t handle the awkward flirting) sent Dahyun off with Chaeyoung. She caught Jeongyeon and Tzuyu packing up the last of their stall away and walking off, not before Jeongyeon waved goodbye to Jihyo.   
It was practically empty in the hall by the time Nayeon had packed up, it took her a while to fold Dahyun’s pride flag by herself. All except a few members of the student council. Sana, Mina and Jihyo.   
Nayeon noticed that her favourite of the three was approaching her table, very quickly.   
“Jihyo sent me over,” Sana said, her voice was weirdly low.   
“Okay,”  
“She wants to know that you’re okay. You’ve been packing up for a while.”  
“The flag took a while to fold up,” Nayeon said as she rapidly shoved things into her bag.   
Sana playfully snatched the sign up sheet off the table.   
“Wow five people signed up. Five more than I thought. I didn’t know that he’s gay,” she read the paper. Nayeon began to bristle and reached to take the paper off the taller girl.   
“Give it back, Sana,” the older girl said.   
Sana seemed to forget who she was with, she giggled (playfully, not maliciously) and waved the paper out of Nayeon’s reach. Nayeon tried to reach for it, jumping up and down, her cheeks reddening with frustration.   
“Sana!” She whined. Then froze.   
She finally noticed the position they were in.   
Nayeon had pressed her body against Sana’s. One hand was on her shoulder, the other reaching for the paper. At some point, Sana’s hand had come to rest on the other girls hip. They were face to face.   
Nayeon knew that Sana’s eyes were on her’s but she couldn’t help but let her own eyes wander down to Sana’s soft looking lips. It had been years since the two were this close, yet their bodies seemed to lock together perfectly. It would have been so easy for either of them to lean forwards slightly and connect lips. The last time they did that, well Nayeon didn’t want to think about that.   
The frizzy haired girl stepped back and pushed her glasses up her nose shyly. Sana remained frozen. Her lips moved to form words. Was that Nayeon’s name or was she imagining things?  
A boy’s voice pulled them out of their trance.   
“Sana? I’ve been waiting for you outside?”  
Sana suddenly sneered and dropped the sign up sheet back on the otherwise empty table.   
“Have fun with gay club. We’ll see if any of those actually turn up. Or stay.”  
And with her last scathing remark, she flicked her dark hair over shoulder, smacking the other girl in the face, and towards the boy who she kissed on the cheek then pulled cute faces at him until he smiled.   
Nayeon grabbed the sign in sheet and stormed out. She ignored Jihyo who called after her in her obnoxiously loud voice. She just wanted to get out of school as soon as possible. She couldn’t let anyone, especially Sana, have the satisfaction of seeing her red cheeks, flushed with arousal and shame.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to play spot the What is love reference. 
> 
>  
> 
> This is a longer chapter than the previous ones I think.  
> Starting to get a bit more plotty?
> 
> I apologise for any mistakes or if the presentation makes it hard to read. I have dyspraxia so I’m usually so focused on getting the scene in my head onto the page (as it were) that I don’t notice errors. And I’m too lazy to edit.  
> Whoops.  
> Hope it’s enjoyable.

Nayeon settled down on her chair and looked out around the room. It was a small group of people who looked back at her, but it still made Nayeon nervous. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked down at the notes that she had prepared earlier in the day.  
Introduce self. Get committee to introduce themselves. Go around room. Today’s topic: gay awakening. Any issues? Back to today’s topic. Go around room. Activities for next week? Final goodbyes.  
She took a deep breath and stood up.  
“Hello, fellow queers and straights. I am Im Nayeon, your president of the lgbt society, informally known as gay club. I am a senior and I am a lesbian. I came out, or rather I was outed, in freshman year. I’d like to introduce everyone to the committee. This is Hirai Momo, the vice president, Chou Tzuyu, the secretary, and Kim Dahyun, the treasurer,” she spoke to the room, pointing to each girl in turn. Momo was sat on one side of Nayeon and Tzuyu sat, typing away on the laptop in front of her, on her other side. Dahyun sat in the general circle between one of the freshmen and (of course) Chaeyoung.  
Momo stood up first. She looked towards the ground, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear and talked quite quickly.  
“I’m Momo, like Nayeon said. I’m a gay senior, like Nayeon. I’m your vice president, so I’ll take over from Nayeon if she can’t come to the meeting or whatever. So yeah,” Momo finished lamely and sat down. Nayeon noticed out of the corner of her eye that Tzuyu began to clap, but stopped before she could make a sound. What a little weirdo.  
Tzuyu stood up next.  
“Hi, I’m Tzuyu, the secretary, I’m a sophomore, the youngest on the committee and I’m straight, just an ally I suppose. My role as the secretary includes taking and circulating minutes. I I do other admin stuff too. If you have any questions about privacy or the minutes or anything like that, I’m the gal to come to,” she spoke calmly and fluently.  
Dahyun bounced up next, “Hello kiddies! My name is Kim Dahyun and I will be your lesbian treasurer. You’re lezerer, if you will,”  
“Oh my God, Kim Dahyun, why?” Tzuyu muttered to herself, which Nayeon overheard, making her splutter. Nayeon’s laughter made Dahyun turn to look at Chaeyoung, completely dazed.  
“I can’t believe people actually laughed at your lezerer joke, Chaeyoung,”  
The orange haired girl shrugged smugly. Jeongyeon gave her a high five. Tzuyu pressed her hand to her forehead and muttered something about murder. The other freshmen in the room laughed awkwardly. Poor guys, Nayeon thought.  
“Anyway, I’m Dahyun. I’m your treasurer, I do money stuff. We have a pitiful budget for the year so if we want to be able to do any fun stuff, we’re going to have to arrange some fundraisers since we all agreed that we don’t want to make anyone pay subs,” the blonde girl began to sit down, but she quickly stood up again, “Oh, I’m a junior in case anyone was wondering. I’m also very gay, just ask Chaeyoung!” She patted the other girl, whose cheeks had begun to blend in with her orange hair, on the head and sat down.  
“Are you two dating?” the freshman girl asked.  
“Ah, no. Not at all. Dahyun meant that she has spent many hours complaining to me about her gayness. She’s kind of churchy, y’know,” Chaeyoung explained. Nayeon could have sworn that both girls moved apart from each other the moment the question was asked. They were an odd pair, those two lil gays.  
Nayeon commanded the room to introduce themselves briefly, just their names, year group and sexuality. There were two straight freshman boys, a gay freshman boy, a gay freshman girl and a bisexual sophomore boy (who currently had a girlfriend, which he was very quick to point out), as well as Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon.  
When Jeongyeon addressed the room, Nayeon felt Momo shift in the seat beside her uncomfortably. Oh Christ, did the dancer have a crush on Jeongyeon now? Nayeon pushed she frizzy hair out of the way to glance at Momo, she wasn’t blushing or smiling shyly or anything that would usually indicate a crush, but she did look uncomfortable. Nayeon was sure that she’d get it out of the nerdy girl. Nayeon could be very persistent.  
“Okay then. Today’s topic is gay awakenings. Before we move onto that, I want to address the passing of motions,” Nayeon continued to speak about protocol for passing motions for a good five minutes. She looked around at the sleepy, bored faces in front of her and cleared her throat nervously. “Erm, well, before we continue, are there any problems to address?”  
Dahyun raised her hand, “We have very little budget. And, as a society, I think it would be cool for us to organise fundraiser, like I mentioned before, and give half the money to an lgbt charity?”  
Nayeon nodded, “Agreed. Though I think the budget and fundraisers may best be discussed at a committee meeting.”  
She was shocked by the formality of her voice. The brunette made a mental note of that voice, it might come in handy when dealing with bullies or worse, Minatozaki Sana.  
The room murmured in agreement and the meeting moved onto ‘gay awakenings’. Nayeon set up the group discussion, talking about gay awakenings and their importance, then passed the discussion to the floor.  
Some of the gay awakenings were obvious and stereotypical. Momo had hers watching a girl dance when she was thirteen, Chaeyoung had a crush on her art teacher, the gay boy had a crush on his best friend. Some were a little sadder, Jeongyeon hated skinship, she felt uncomfortable when girls would kiss her cheeks, she wasn’t even fond of hugging. One time a girl (whose name she refused to disclose), accidently kissed her on the lips when she was sixteen and Jeongyeon realised that her discomfort was internalised homophobia. She wanted the girls to kiss her, but that didn’t stop her being attracted to guys. Some were a bit on the weird side, like Dahyun.  
Dahyun said, “I was listening to music and I thought the singer I was listening to had a really sexy voice. I thought it was a boy at first. Then I looked it up, found out that she was a girl and now I’m gay.”  
Then the room turned to Nayeon.  
The brunette now had a decision to make. She could lie to the room or she could tell the truth. The truth, of course, being that she fell in love with a girl who didn’t, couldn’t, love her back. She hadn’t noticed that she had fell in love, she fell over a long period of time, it probably started at some point in middle school when the two became best friends, but she didn’t realise until they had their first kiss. They were at her house, just being silly like usual, until they stopped and looked at each other, they had moved towards each other like magnets and when fireworks went off in Nayeon’s brain, she just knew. She was a lesbian, and she was in love with Minatozaki Sana.  
“I think a part of me always knew,” Nayeon began, “I had crushes on girls. Hell, I’m pretty sure I dated Jeongyeon in kindergarten for, like, a week. But, the moment I knew,” Nayeon took a deep breathe to reveal the truth. And then she lied, “I was watching TV and an actress made me feel super horny and I was like, huh, guess I want to bang girls lol.”  
The group laughed.  
After a few more minutes of discussing gay awakenings, Nayeon brought up the question of the societies’ activities for the next week, since they had agreed with Principal Kim on having weekly meetings (Nayeon had actually tried to push for once every two weeks but the Principal wasn’t for changing her mind). Once that was sorted, Nayeon closed the meeting.  
The members left first, apart from Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung who lurked by the doorway, leaving the committee members left behind.  
The committee sorted through a few admin points, then Momo got up and ran out of the room. Nayeon was fairly certain that the nerdy looking girl was running to dance class since the meeting was after school and had overrun by about fifteen minutes. Dahyun and Tzuyu left together. The former threw her arm around Chaeyoung in an awkward side hug and the three walked off together. Only Jeongyeon remained.  
“Nayeon, why did you lie?” Jeongyeon demanded, “you and I both know that you realised you were gay when you fell in love with Sana.”  
Nayeon flinched at the mention of her name. She looked away from the other girl.  
“Don’t tell me you’re still not over her? Nayeon-ah, it’s been nearly two and half years!”  
“Of course I’m over her, Jeongyeon!” the brunette exclaimed passionately, she felt tears prick behind her eyes.  
“But I’m not over what she did to me.”  
“Nayeon...”  
“Don’t Nayeon me, Jeongyeon. You were there! You saw how heartbroken I was. You that video! I poured my heart out to her. And what did she do? She ripped my heart out and stamped on it. In public. And invited everyone else to stamp on it with her,” Nayeon cried. She didn’t even notice that she was crying until she tasted the salty tears on her face.  
“But they haven’t seen the video, they weren’t there. They didn’t see the aftermath. They wouldn’t understand. To admit to them that I was in love with Sana would hurt too much. It brings back too many bad memories,” she said quieter, in between big, gasping sobs.  
The other girl enveloped her in a hug and wiped some of the tears off her face.  
“I’m sorry,” she apologised, “I really am. I shouldn’t have pushed you. It’s easy to forget how much something hurts if it never actually hurt you.”  
The taller girl pulled away and offered the still crying girl a tissue.  
“Now stop crying. You have a really ugly crying face and you got snot on my blazer.”  
Before she left, Jeongyeon turned back to face Nayeon.  
“You do know that with your position, the video will resurface,”  
“Yeah, I know. But I’ll be more prepared this time.”

Mina and Momo were sat on the floor warming up before dance class. They were both sat in box splits and were helping each other stretch.  
“How long have we got until class starts?” asked Momo, still blinking her watery eyes as she had only just put her contacts in.  
“Ten minutes, I think,” Mina replied, “I was surprised that I arrived before you, don’t you usually use come early and use the studios?”  
“Not always! But, yeah. Usually. I had a meeting that ran over,” Momo explained.  
“Gay club?”  
“That’s the one,”  
Mina sighed and looked towards the girls watching in the corner with narrowed eyes.  
“You know, most of the girls here would kill to get to stretch with dancing machine Momo,”  
The girl in question blushed and looked down.  
“I bet half of them would give up their left leg to be able to go on a date with you. I frequently catch a couple of the girls staring at your abs” Mina said quietly, slyly.  
“Not you?” Momo teased.  
“I like my legs, thank you very much,” the other replied snootily.  
Momo shook her dark hair, “That’s why I don’t want people at school to know I dance. People are only interested in my looks, and my abs, and it stresses me out. I don’t want to feel like I have to look or act a certain way. I want people to like me for me. I just want to dance for me, not to impress other people.”  
Mina smiled encouragingly, “People think I’m dance captain purely for the popularity. While I like that, I dance because I love it. I really don’t like the boys that pant after me.”  
Momo laughed. She had her suspicions about that girl, she really did, especially after she caught the younger girl checking her out once. Shame Mina wasn’t really her type.  
They fell into silence and an image that had haunted Momo since just before the societies fair crept back into her mind.  
“Can I tell you a secret?”

It was the day of the societies fair and Momo was carrying a poster around with her lunchtime, she was trying to find a place to work.  
She peeped through the window of one class room, and spotted Jihyo working at a desk. Jeongyeon was sat in the window with a book, probably a play in her hands. Momo didn’t know why, but she felt that she shouldn’t walk into that classroom and disturb them. Instead, she lurked outside.  
Jihyo looked up from her work frequently to stare at Jeongyeon. Eventually she stopped working and stared, looking at the other girl with heart eyes.  
Jeongyeon finally made eye contact with her.  
“Jeongyeon-unnie, you’re distracting me,” whined the younger girl.  
“I’m not doing anything,” Momo heard the other girl reply indignantly.  
They stared at each other for a few moments more, until Jihyo packed up her work and stood up.  
“What are you doing?”  
“You distracted me, so now I’ll distract you,” Jihyo giggled. Momo gasped and went to walk away, but she just couldn’t tear her gaze from the scene.  
Jihyo sat on the table and motioned to the other girl.  
“Come here, unnie,”  
Jeongyeon left the book on the window sill, approached the president, and kissed her?  
Momo gasped audibly. It was a sight to behold, the two girls making out on a school desk at lunchtime. One of the girls being the student council president. The other had her hand on the president’s thigh, and it was slowly creeping beneath said president’s skirt.  
And that was Momo’s cue to run. 

Mina chuckled at the end of Momo’s story.  
“So basically you watched Jihyo and Jeongyeon get off with each other?” Mina laughed.  
“It was disturbing! There was so much boob grabbing. And tongue! I was looking through a window and I could see tongue!” Momo exclaimed, “why are you so chill about Jihyo fucking Jeongyeon?”  
“I already knew, Momo-chan. They got together over summer. I don’t know if it’s serious, but only me, and possibly Sana-chan, know. Please don’t tell.”  
Don’t worry, I won’t,” Momo promised. She meant it. She wouldn’t even tell Nayeon. Probably. 

Today was not Sana’s day. First she did badly in a test, then she just failed to play well at basketball practice and then she saw Im Nayeon hanging around after school, meaning that gay club had happened, and it wasn’t a complete failure as expected.  
And now, her boyfriend was trying to break up with her.  
“You want to break up?” She shouted at him.  
“Keep it down Sana,” he said, “My mother will hear.”  
Oh yeah, they were in his room in the middle of kissing when he sprang it on her.  
“But why?” Sana asked, “I thought I was a good girlfriend! I stopped flirting with other boys for you!”  
“Because I’m in love with you, Sana,” he said sadly.  
She looked him in the eye.  
“You want to break up, because you’re in love with me,” she repeated slowly.  
“Yes. I’m in love with you. And you don’t love me back,” he said.  
“I could do!” the Japanese girl protested.  
“No, you couldn’t,” the boy said firmly.  
“Besides, you never want to talk to me, you only want to make out. But then you freak if I try to go further,”  
“I’m not that kind of girl,” Sana said darkly.  
“Sana, sometimes I think you’re barely into me at all! And all you’ve talked about recently is that gay club and how stupid it is and how annoying it is,”  
“That’s because it’s stupid and-“  
“I don’t care!” the boy interrupted, “I fell in love with you but I know that you don’t love me back. And you never will.”  
Finally Sana stopped fighting with him and crossed her arms, avoiding his intense gaze.  
“You’re right. You’re a good guy, and you deserve a girl that loves you,” she said quietly, a silent tear dropped down her cheek.  
She got up and left without a word more.  
Today was not Sana’s day.


	7. Chapter 7

Sana leant against her locker with a sigh. She turned to open her locker and pulled a few books from inside of it. Her eyes landed on the photos which decorated the inside of her locker. There was a picture of herself with Jihyo and Mina, in which Mina looked like she was going to throw up as Sana and Jihyo had forced the poor Japanese girl onto a scary rollercoaster which she screamed like a whistle the whole way round. A picture of the current student council, and the previous student council as Sana was secretary the previous year. Of course there was her basketball team, a picture of them holding up Sana who was holding a cup. There was also a picture of the Japanese girl with several older girls, Sana’s unnies, most of them were a school year above Sana but a couple were older. As Sana was the current most popular girl in the school, the other girls were the ones to previous hold that title.  
Tucked into the corner, barely in Sana’s eyesight was a small strip of photos from a photo booth. They were pictures of Sana and Im Nayeon. They were clearly around the age of fourteen in the photos, there were some mildly tragic hairstyles in the photo strip. The two girls looked happy. The way they were laughing and smiling at each other in the photos made Sana’s heart ache.  
However, her attention landed on the photo in the centre of the collage, a picture of Sana and her boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend, she supposed she should refer to them. Sana had her arms wrapped around the tall, lanky boy, who was looking at his girlfriend with so much adoration in his eyes that just looking at the photo made Sana want to burst into tears.  
He had been right, she didn’t love him. She couldn’t, she knew that. But she cared about him, she really did.  
And she had also never been broken with before, she was always the one who did the dumping. It was weird having the shoe on the other foot.  
Sana ripped the photo from her locker and tore the picture in two.

“Ah, Sana-chan! I-” Mina stopped abruptly when she saw Sana staring at her locker door.  
Sana turned to face the other Japanese girl. To Mina, she looked a little bit broken. She had seen that look on her friend’s face before.  
When Sana saw her friend, she quickly placed a smile on her face and gave her friend a deep hug.  
As she did this, a tall figure passed the hugging pair. Mina spotted the tall boy and went to greet him, but he passed by without a sound.  
“Ah, Sana-chan, you need to tell your boyfriend to stop being so rude,” she commented disapprovingly.  
Sana felt the smile slip from her face, but she tried to force her lips to turn upwards.  
She couldn’t just burst into tears in the corridors. There were many things you could get away with once you gained popularity, but popularity wouldn’t stop rumours circulating about you having a breakdown in front of everybody before school even started. If anything, rumours spread quicker once a popular person was involved in the drama. Sana had first-hand experience of that.  
“Sana? What’s wrong?” Mina asked as the bell rang.  
“I’ll message you,” Sana promised.

The Japanese girl sat in her theatre class with a forlorn look on her face. She pressed her cheeks into her hands and sighed in boredom. Today was one of those boring theatre classes where the teacher droned on about plays and styles of theatre and the art of acting and all that crap.  
Sana got out her phone and searched for Mina’s number. Instead, she decided to message Mina and Jihyo’s little group chat instead. She thought that she might as well let Jihyo know as well.  
“I’ve been dumped,” Sana typed into her phone.  
Jihyo clearly ignored the message as her reply was simply “Class.” What a nerd.  
Mina did reply with a flurry of questions.  
“He did it last night when I went round to his after he tried to fuck me (again) and I said no (for obvious reasons).”  
“Douchebag,”  
“He said that he’s in love with me,”  
“Bullshit.”  
“He was in love with me. I’m not in love with him.”  
Sana couldn’t read Mina’s reply. Just as her phone buzzed, the teacher ripped the phone out of Sana’s hands.  
“Detention, Minatosaki. I will see you after class.”  
Sana bit her lip and sat on her hands. 

Once class was over, Sana approached her teacher’s desk with a reproachful look. The teacher spoke to her without looking up.  
“This isn’t the first time I caught you on the phone,”  
“I’m sorry,”  
“And I know that you skipped most of my classes last year,”  
“I- “  
“I only passed you because your final performance was exceptional. The monologue you performed was stunning and emotional. You are talented, Minatozaki Sana. But you behave like an airheaded brat. You only do what amuses you and you only care about yourself,”  
“That’s not true!” Sana protested.  
“I have no reason to believe otherwise. I tried to report you to the principal last year, but he didn’t care. Your parents are benefactors, I believe. However, Principal Kim will care. She may even suspend you from student council,”  
“She can’t do that,”  
“Oh she can. Unless, you join theatre club,”  
Sana was astounded. She opened her mouth and closed it, like a fish.  
“Prove to me that you do care about things other than yourself. Put your talents to good use and help my club. God knows they need all the help they can get. I’m not saying that you must be the lead, I just want you to take part. And I’ll be there to make you sure you do.”  
The Japanese girl pouted and scowled.  
“There’s a meeting tonight after school in the theatre. Coincidentally, that’s also where your detention will be,”  
The teacher handed Sana’s phone back to her and shooed her away.  
As soon as she left the classroom, Sana saw the reply from Mina.  
“He doesn’t deserve you.”  
She scoffed. She was well aware that he deserved better than her. He may be a douche but even douchebags deserve to be loved. After all, was she not the biggest douchebag going? Surely, she deserved to be loved?  
Sana messaged Mina,  
“Cancel everything for this evening. We’re going to theatre club.”

Im Nayeon settled into her seat in the theatre. Momo sat beside her with a bunch of books spread out in front of her.  
“Momo-yah. Why don’t you just go home? You aren’t a part of theatre club,”  
“Your parents invited me round to your house for dinner,”  
“I can’t believe that my own parents like you more than me,” Nayeon declared dramatically and flicked the other girl, who cradled her head as if Nayeon had decked her and pouted.  
Nayeon turned her attention to the girl sat beside her.  
“Tzuyu! I bet your parents would love me!”  
The Taiwanese girl looked at the brunette and scowled.  
“Why?”  
Kim Dahyun cracked up beside her, slapping the seat in front of her vigourously.  
Nayeon pouted, “Because I’m your adorable senior friend, Im Nayeon. The girl who got you a position on an important school committee and is super pretty and talented.”  
“You’re my friend?”  
Nayeon fell silent and turned away from the tall girl beside her with a tut.  
At this point, Dahyun was practically wetting herself.  
Chaeyoung, who was sat in the seat in front of Dahyun, had to move down a couple of seats because the other girl was slapping the chair so hard.  
Once Dahyun saw that Chaeyoung had moved away, she pouted and began to sing ‘My heart will go on’ very very badly to the orange haired girl, who blushed and looked away.  
Yoo Jeongyeon stumbled into the theatre and made her way to the stage, closely followed by the drama teacher, who seemed to be scanning the theatre for something, or someone. Before Jeongyeon could speak, the teacher silenced her and gestured for them to wait.  
Nayeon sat awkwardly in her seat. The only sound in the theatre was the sound of pen against paper as Momo attempted to work. And the sound of footsteps coming closer.  
The doors to the theatre burst open and two girls strode purposefully into the room.  
Nayeon turned her head to see who they were.  
Myoui Mina and, of course, her favourite person in the whole world. Nayeon cursed her luck. The two girls slid into the seats in front of her, with Mina next to Chaeyoung and Sana directly in front of Nayeon. She really had to resist the childish urge to kick the seat.  
The brunette noticed Chaeyoung freeze up and smile awkwardly at the girl beside her. Perhaps Mina noticed that Chaeyoung clearly had a crush on her, because she giggled slightly and patted the younger girl’s knee gently. Nayeon saw Sana lean closer to the other Japanese girl and heard her whisper,  
“I thought that she was dating that Dahyun girl in your year.”  
Mina only shrugged. Nayeon wished that she could see her expression.  
“Nice of you to join us, Minatozaki Sana,” the teacher declared.  
“It’s not like I had a choice,” Nayeon heard the Japanese girl mumble.  
Nayeon couldn’t help but scoff when she heard that. Of course, Sana wouldn’t lower herself to attending theatre club voluntarily.  
The girls in front must have heard, because Sana started to shake a little and Mina’s head whipped around. The Japanese girl, however, completely ignored Nayeon and focussed on the other girls in the row. She greeted Tzuyu informally and said hello to Dahyun as well, who simply gaped at the girl, probably in gay panic. Mina seemed to be making a couple of girls have gay panics today.  
After this interruption had occurred, Jeongyeon announced the definite scenes which were to be included in the ‘What is love?’ showcase. A couple of scenes from a popular k-drama, a song from La la land, and another duet from a musical, a scene from Titanic, of course, a duologue ripped straight out of the production of Romeo and Juliet which the club performed the previous school year. Most surprisingly, was Jeongyeon’s inclusion of a piece of original work which she was currently in the process of writing. She also mentioned that Jihyo had agreed to sing for them. When Jihyo’s name was mentioned, Nayeon felt Momo stiffen beside her, and she noticed Sana and Mina exchange a look. How curious.  
“What about something from ‘The Princess Diaries’?” Nayeon put her hand up and asked. She felt several pairs of eyes on her and she swore that she could hear the boys of theatre club laughing quietly.  
“What about it?” challenged Jeongyeon.  
“It is a classic film that is super romantic and everyone loves Mia and Michael. Her toe popped, Jeongyeon. Her toe popped,” Nayeon said confidently. She immediately shyed away from the attention. Nayeon hadn’t spoken so boldly in public since middle school.  
She pushed her glasses up her nose awkwardly.  
Jeongyeon stared at the girl in disbelief, then rolled her eyes, “Fine. I’ll add it to the list. But you’re choosing the scene because I can’t be bothered to watch the film. And you’re playing Mia.”  
Nayeon could only nod.  
What had she just got herself into?

A week passed. Theatre club auditions for the ‘What is love?’ showcase came and went. Closely followed by the second lgbt society meeting of the term. Nayeon felt that that meeting had gone without a hitch. The only remotely thing interesting about the meeting was that when Dahyun brought up the funding problem (again), Jeongyeon suggested that a portion of the profits from the ‘What is love?’ showcase went to the society, since her original play was, controversially in Nayeon’s opinion, super gay.  
It was the Friday (the day that theatre club happened every single week) when Jeongyeon posted the results of the auditions onto a wall.  
Unsurprisingly, Nayeon was cast as Mia in ‘The princess diaries’, Tzuyu and Jeongyeon were Romeo and Juliet, Tzuyu was also thrown into ‘Titanic’ with one of the boys and Dahyun and Chaeyoung were the leads in ‘Descendents of the sun’.  
Surprisingly, Myoui Mina’s name had been put down for her to perform a ballet solo (Jeongyeon had marked the solo Giselle with a question mark) and Sana had been cast as Elizabeth Bennet in a scene from pride and prejudice. Nayeon didn’t even know that Sana could act. At least they didn’t have to act together, Nayeon was fairly sure that she could avoid Sana for the rest of the term if she tried hard enough.  
Some parts were left uncast, such as Tzuyu’s counterpart in La la land and the singing roles in the musical duet, which Jeongyeon had chosen to be a song from Miss Saigon. Nayeon wasn’t sure where that choice had come from.  
Nayeon’s phone buzzed.  
It was a message from Jeongyeon.  
“Post-audition theatre club party at my house tonight. Bring booze, grandma,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter wasn't particularly great. It mainly served to set up plot stuff for later chapters. I tried to make it entertaining but I think that this chapter (and the last) is a bit stagnant. Nothing like a good party to liven things up a bit, eh?


	8. Chapter 8

“Nayeon-ah! Why do I have to come to a theatre club party with you? I’m not even in theatre club!” Momo protested as Nayeon shoved a six-pack of cheap beers into her arms. Clumsily, Momo adjusted her thick glasses with one hand.  
Nayeon flicked her frizzy hair off her shoulder and picked up the two bottles of vodka which her mother let her take (they’d been sitting in the house for a very long time and Mrs Im was so happy that Nayeon had actually been invited to a party that she would have done anything to make her daughter go).  
“Because, Jeongyeon is forcing me to come. And I think Minatozaki Sana is going to be there, with her joining theatre club and all. So I need a pal,” the brunette replied. She turned to her friend with a very serious look on her face, “You can’t ditch me Hirai Momo.”  
“Okay Nayeon-unnie,” Momo agreed.

The girls arrived at the door to Jeongyeon’s house and knocked nervously. Jeongyeon answered with a lazy smile which turned into a greedy grin when she saw the alcohol in the other girls’ arms.  
“Ah, you brought booze?” she said happily, “Good. We’ve already drunk all of my beers.”  
“Who’s here already?” Nayeon asked.  
At that moment Chaeyoung stuck her orange head into the doorway.   
“Hello unnies,” she slurred. In her hands was a bowl of salad. She clumsily stuck a piece of lettuce in her mouth.  
“Momo-unnie!” Tzuyu exclaimed over the top of Chaeyoung’s head uncharacteristically excitedly.  
“I’m here too!” Nayeon shouted at the Taiwanese girl’s back, for Tzuyu had already turned around to go back inside.  
Nayeon could swear that she could hear Dahyun’s voice coming from inside of the house, something about being left alone.  
Jeongyeon gestured to the two girls in the doorway, allowing them to come inside.  
Nayeon and Momo stuck the alcohol in the kitchen. Having used Jeongyeon’s lemonade to make themselves a drink each, they entered the living room.  
Jeongyeon was sat next to Tzuyu on one couch and Dahyun was sat next to Chaeyoung and her big bowl of salad on the other.  
Jeongyeon had a can of beer in one hand and her phone in the other. She announced that Jihyo was nearly here, much to Nayeon’s surprise. Dahyun also held a can of beer which she was taking cautious sips of. On the floor lay another four cans.   
“How much has everyone had to drink already?” Nayeon asked.   
Tzuyu answered, “Jeongyeon is on her second. I’ve had one. Dahyun’s still on her first. So Chaeyoung has had two.”  
Chaeyoung hummed and shoved a piece of lettuce in her mouth.   
“Damn lightweights,” Dahyun mockingly grumbled.  
Nayeon took her place on the sofa next to Dahyun while Momo sat beside Tzuyu, who seemed to immediately brighten up.  
The six girls began to chat amongst themselves.

It wasn’t much longer before the doorbell rang.   
“You have a doorbell?” Momo asked surprised. Jeongyeon have her a funny look as she left the room.  
Soon Jihyo walked into the room and waved two bottles of wine in the air, whooping loudly. Dahyun and Chaeyoung dabbed in response.  
The wine girl was closely followed by Sana (who looked like she would rather die than be in that room) and Mina (who waved to Tzuyu and smiled at Momo).   
Chaeyoung made a funny, delighted squeal when she saw her favourite Japanese girl, moved off the sofa and forced her sit on the floor beside her, abandoning her salad bowl.  
Sana and Jihyo disappeared into the kitchen, and quickly returned with three cups full of wine, one for each of them and one for Mina. The two girls sat on the floor next to where Chaeyoung was cuddled up to Mina (who Nayeon thought looked bizarrely calm).  
“Where are the boys?” Mina asked politely.  
Behind her, Dahyun made eye contact with Nayeon and mouthed “ew boys” before she made a gagging motion. Nayeon could only nod in agreement.  
“Seojun has some sport thing going on. The others weren’t allowed to come, their parents wouldn’t let them,” Jeongyeon explained.  
“Well, considering the fact that Chaeyoung is already half-pissed, I don’t blame them,” Tzuyu deadpanned.   
“Yah! I’m just a bit tipsy!” Chaeyoung lifted her head off Mina’s shoulder to shout.  
Suddenly, Jeongyeon stood up and looked at the room with a predatory grin.  
“Let’s play truth, dare or drink.”

Soon, the girls had gathered round in a circle on the floor. The alcohol which was previously in the kitchen had been moved into the middle of the circle.  
Nayeon sat sandwiched between Momo and Jeongyeon. Her favourite person was practically sat opposite her.  
“Who’s starting?” someone asked, Nayeon wasn’t sure who. She was too busy watching Sana pour herself another glass of wine while whispering to Mina, who was now sat next to Dahyin who had forced herself to sit there so that Chaeyoung would stop clinging to the poor Japanese girl.  
“Let’s start with the oldest,” Jeongyeon suggested. Nayeon groaned inwardly. And outwardly. “Okay Grandma, truth or dare?”  
Nayeon picked truth and had to admit that she did indeed shit herself on stage when she was in kindergarten (even though up to that point she had vehemently denied doing such a thing). They went around the circle.   
Jeongyeon picked dare and was dared by Dahyun to down her drink.  
(“That’s not how you play truth, dare or drink!” Jihyo had exclaimed loudly but Jeongyeon had already finished her drink.)  
The first round of truth, dare or drink was fairly tame. A few people chose to drink because they were “way too sober” but it was mainly fairly standard truths.   
When Nayeon’s turn next came round, she was asked how many people in the room she had kissed. She was sure that people thought that answer would be none, maybe one at a push. Nayeon smirked,   
“Three.”  
“Your reflection doesn’t count.”  
“Still three. Momo asked me to when she was having a gay crisis. And Jeongyeon and I made out once.”  
“The third?” Dahyun asked with a smirk. Nayeon merely smiled sadly and laughed harshly.  
“Take a wild guess.”  
Sana blushed.

The game continued to be a bit boring, so Jeongyeon got her phone out and went on a truth or dare app which asked more interesting things.  
It had got to Jihyo’s turn. The president picked dare, and Jeongyeon pressed the dare button. The girl went bright red and spluttered. Nayeon looked over the girl’s shoulder and laughed.  
“Show us your tits!” she shouted, the alcohol had really gone to her head.  
Jihyo grinned devilishly and whipped her top off. Before anyone could get her to stop, she took her bra off too.  
Jeongyeon remained bright red and blatantly stared, as did Chaeyoung and Momo. Mina and Tzuyu looked away while Nayeon tried to tear her gaze away. Sana looked appreciative, then looked away furiously. Dahyun whispered,  
“Glorious melons.”

Nayeon knew that the game should have ended with the ‘glorious melons’ incident, but it didn’t. Jeongyeon kept her app out and things got progressively worse.  
First, Momo had to let someone (Jeongyeon) burn her thick, white headband which she always insisted on wearing (that one came didn’t come from the app).  
Nayeon had to chug half a bottle of wine (which she really regretted).  
Jeongyeon had to let a very drunk Nayeon kiss her on the cheek. It should have been easy but every time Nayeon got close to the other girl, she would scream and duck out of the way of the brunette’s puckered lips.  
Having watched Chaeyoung stand up and perform a ‘sexy’ version of ‘I’m a little tea pot’ (which made Jihyo scream, “Chaeyoung-ah marry me”), Dahyun clearly wimped out and chose truth, where she revealed that she had never had a hickey.  
It was Mina’s turn next, she chose dare. Although Nayeon’s mind was fuzzy, the perfect dare popped into her head. Before Jeongyeon could read the dare off her app, Nayeon shouted,  
“I dare you to give Dahyun a hickey!”  
Both girls sat up straight and looked at each other with wide eyes.   
“You can drink if you want,” Dahyun said quietly.  
Mina smiled and shook her head. She adjusted her sitting position, pulled Dahyun’s hair away from her neck and placed her lips on the younger girl’s neck. Dahyun gasped and bit her lip.  
Nayeon and Momo whooped and hollered and Jeongyeon wolf whistled.   
Out of the corner of her eye, Nayeon caught Chaeyoung watching the pair with wide eyes and blown pupils. She looked confused, but also slightly heartbroken.   
Whoopsie.  
The game continued while Mina sucked on Dahyun’s neck.   
Sana chose truth and revealed that yes, she had once been in love.   
The revelation left a sour taste sitting in Nayeon’s mouth that she washed away with vodka.  
Tzuyu had to do a bed, wed and behead of the rest of the lgbt club exec.   
“I’ve basically already done this,” she said, then declared, “Behead Nayeon, obviously. Wed Mom, because she’s sweet,” Momo went bright red and giggled, “So I guess I’d have to bed Dahyun.”  
“You know you want this, Yoda!” Dahyun shouted.  
At that moment, Mina popped off Dahyun’s neck with a look of shock. She covered her mouth with one hand and shied away, leaning into Sana.  
A big red mark was already beginning to form the other girl’s very pale neck.  
It came to Jihyo, who drank to avoid any ‘glorious melons’ incidents again.  
The game came back round to Momo, who was dared by Jeongyeon’s app to do a striptease.  
So Momo did a striptease.   
Only her top came off mind, but the dancing was incredible.   
Nayeon was sure that half the room, at least, was left completely turned on by Momo’s dancing. Nayeon, however was very amused by the contradiction of the Japanese girl’s alluring moves and the thick nerdy glasses that were on her face.  
When she was close to Tzuyu, the girl reached out and stroked Momo’s abs with a very conflicted expression.  
The game ended after Momo’s striptease. Two of the girls had already taken their tops off and pretty much everyone was trashed, so the game had clearly been a success.

Half an hour or so had passed since the end of the game. Chaeyoung had found her salad again and was dancing badly to kpop with the rest of the girls, and her dance partner the salad bowl. Though, she noticed that Jihyo and Jeongyeon were missing, they said that they were going to the toilet about ten minutes ago. Dahyun was currently doing her version of ‘Rainism’ while the other girls danced around her. Sana kept on alternating between hugging and kissing Tzuyu and watching Dahyun while biting her nails. Who could blame her? Dahyun was hot.  
Chaeyoung froze for a moment. She thought Dahyun was hot.   
The picture of Mina giving Dahyun a hickey was ingrained on the back of her eyelids. And her alcohol addled mind simply couldn’t figure it out.   
She noticed that Mina wasn’t in the crowd of girls dancing. Her stomach sank slightly.  
Once ‘Rainism’ had finished, Dahyun was accosted by Sana, Momo and Nayeon, all of them peppering her cheeks with kisses.   
Chaeyoung decided that it was time to nip to the toilet.   
She wandered up to Jeongyeon’s bathroom, picking out lettuce from her salad as she went, and stopped outside the door.  
She pushed it open and let out a strangled scream.  
In front of her was Jihyo and Jeongyeon. Jihyo was sat on the counter next to the sink, and Jeongyeon was stood between her legs. Jeongyeon’s hands were in the student council president’s hair, while the other girl’s hands were underneath Jeongyeon’s shirt.   
The two pulled apart their lips with a look of shock and shame on their faces. Jeongyeon’s eyes dropped onto the salad bowl in Chaeyoung’s hands.  
“Don’t say it,” she said lowly.  
“REALLY? RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY SALAD!”

While she was doing her ‘Rainism’ dance (which Dahyun liked to call ‘Dahyunism’ because she was a Cool KidTM), Dahyun couldn’t help but notice Mina slip out of the room. Once the dance finished, three girls launched themselves at her and pressed kisses against her cheek. She would have loved it, if she wasn’t so concerned about Mina disappearing. Part of her was worried that the hickey thing had made her uncomfortable.   
It wasn’t long before Dahyun found Mina stood outside on the porch, leant against a wall.  
Sheepishly, Dahyun joined her.  
“Are you okay, Mina? What are you doing out here?” she asked.  
Mina turned and smiled. Dahyun had never noticed before how her gums showed when she smiled properly. It was adorable. She was starting to see why Chaeyoung liked Mina so much. She sort of thought that she should hate Mina, since she was the girl that her crush liked, but a smile like that made hatred impossible.  
“I’m okay Dahyun-ah. Parties get a bit much for me, even small ones like this so I always get some air,” Mina said, “Besides, I don’t really like drinking that much so getting some air stops me getting grumpy when I sober up.”  
“I’m not a big drinker either, to be honest,” Dahyun admitted, “Chaeyoung, Tzuyu and I once had a sleepover where I drank a shitload of vodka. I don’t remember much but I do remember chundering that night and then chundering all morning. It puts you off, really.”  
Mina laughed. It was a delightful laugh that made Dahyun’s stomach do funny things.  
“At least the music is good at this party. Most parties have crappy house music. All I want to do at those kind of parties is put on a pair of headphones and listen to my own music. Somehow, I don’t think that would go down well,” the Japanese girl admitted, tucking a dark strand of hair behind her ear.   
The two chuckled and let silence engulf them for a few moments.   
Dahyun rubbed her aching neck and winced.  
“Are hickeys supposed to hurt?” she asked. Mina’s eyes widened and her hands went to her mouth.  
“I’m so sorry! I got a bit carried away. Do you want some ice?” the words tumbled out of Mina’s mouth rapidly.  
The blonde chuckled, “Maybe later. I think I could do with some air.”  
“I’m sorry about the hickey anyway. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything like that. I’ve never actually given anyone a hickey before, or received one myself, so I think I might have gone a bit overboard on the biting,” the Japanese girl looked away shyly, her cheeks flushing red. Dahyun unconsciously rubbed the red mark.  
“No, no, it’s fine! Don’t worry! I’m sorry that I was your first hickey recipient. And, it felt nice,” this time it was Dahyun’s turn to look away, embarrassed. She must have still had some alcohol in her system. The two chuckled awkwardly.  
“Ah, you and Chaeyoung…” Mina started. Dahyun sighed.  
“We’re not dating, no,” she said, trying to keep her voice even.  
“Everyone thinks you are,” Mina said, her tone light and playful.  
“Then everyone’s wrong. We’re bros, that’s it,” Dahyun said firmly. The other girl shut her mouth and nodded.  
Dahyun paused, trying to find something to fill the awkward silence.   
“Is Sana gay?”  
“What makes you ask that?”  
“She was very touchey feeley back there. I think she asked me to her girlfriend.”   
Mina laughed, “She gets like that when she’s drunk. It doesn’t mean anything though. We just ignore it, to be honest.”  
“Why are you even friends with her?” Dahyun felt ashamed the moment the words left her lips, “I mean, she seemed super against lgbt society so I thought she was homophobic. And she can be really mean and, I haven’t seen the video, but I heard about what she did to Nayeon.”  
Mina sighed, “Sana isn’t a bad person, you know. She’s funny and silly and gets hyper easily. But she’s also dependable, she’s always been there for me and Jihyo whenever we were having a tough time, even when she’s been dealing with her own stuff. What she did to Nayeon was shitty, but she doesn’t deserve to be hated.”  
Silence surrounded them again. It was slightly more comfortable than the last awkward silence, but Dahyun broke it anyway.  
“You’re a ballet dancer, right? What’s your favourite ballet? I might know it on piano.”

Dahyun and Mina walked back into the living room, both blushing lightly, and gasped in horror. Clearly things had gone downhill since the two had left.   
Jeongyeon was laying on the couch. Underneath Jihyo (who may or may not have taken her top off). The two were clearly in the middle of a heavy make out session.   
On the floor, next to the sofa, lay Chaeyoung. She was clearly dead to the world. She had curled up in a ball, her arms wrapped around Tzuyu’s leg and her head in the other girl’s lap. Dahyun could have sworn that the younger girl was drooling, and couldn’t wait to tease her. Of course, she was mainly focussing on the drool because she didn’t want to admit that the sight of the sleeping girl made her heart flutter.   
Tzuyu’s face was a picture. The pure horror and panic on her face was a sight to behold. Her dark eyes flicked between the two sights which she was slap bang in the middle of. On one side were two girls who had their tongues so far down each other’s throats it was a miracle the two of them were still breathing.  
On the other side, Momo was dancing. In just a sports bra and jeans (and her dorky glasses). She was dancing on Sana and Nayeon. Simultaneously.   
How someone could give two people a lap dance at the same time, Dahyun would never know. The two girls who Momo was somehow managing to grind on at the same time (it was seriously impressive) were sat next to each other on the sofa, trying to ignore each other. Sana kept on giggling at the girl who was dancing on her, but whenever she caught Nayeon’s eye, she’d blush and turn her head away. Nayeon looked pissed as a fart. She was too busy dancing awkwardly to the music to care about Momo. She smiled goofily when Sana looked at her then immediately frowned before returning to her dancing.   
Put simply, it was a mess.   
Dahyun turned to Mina, who looked absolutely horrified.  
“Right so,” Dahyun said, “Jeongyeon and Jihyo are giving exhibitionism a try, Chaeyoung is sleeping on Tzuyu, who I think might be a little bit dead, and Momo is giving both Nayeon and Sana a lap dance.”  
Mina stared directly into Dahyun’s eyes.  
“Well. I think we’re fucked.”


	9. Chapter 9

A gentle snore woke up Chaeyoung. She kept her eyes closed, trying to go back to sleep, and groaned as a light wave of nausea hit. Her mouth felt like the Sahara Desert, but she was dreading opening her eyes.  
She felt warmer than she have done considering that the duvet was very thin and she could feel that she was topless.   
Another light snore came from beside her.   
A wave of realisation hit her, she was sleeping next to someone.   
In fact, she was sandwiched between two people.   
Both of them were cuddled up to her. Now that she was actually awake, Chaeyoung was hyper-aware of the position she in. The snorer had her head tucked into Chaeyoung’s shoulder and her arm over Chaeyoung’s waist. The orange haired girl could feel that her head was resting on the crook of the neck of the other girl, who also had her arm and leg thrown over Chaeyoung’s body.  
Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and looked to see who she was sleeping with.  
The snorer was Dahyun, whose arm that was thrown over Chaeyoung’s waist seemed to be lightly stroking the other girl’s side. The other girl was Mina, who had her back pressed the wall beside the single bed.  
A bowl sat at the end of the bed. Was that the salad bowl that Jeongyeon’s mum put out along with a selection of crisps and dips? How did that get there?  
More importantly, why was she in between two girls (both of whom she kinda liked) with no top on?   
Chaeyoung wiggled, trying to find a way out without waking the other girls, but gave up when Dahyun snuggled closer, mumbling incoherently, and pressed a kiss into Chaeyoung’s neck. She involuntarily made a small whining noise. Dahyun’s lips felt soft against her sensitive neck. What she wouldn't give to have those lips move upwards towards her jawline, her cheek, her lips.   
She was startled out of her Dahyun induced daydream by a voice.  
“Are you awake, Chaengie?” Mina whispered from behind. Blushing at the nickname, Chaeyoung turned her head to gaze up into Mina’s kind eyes.  
“What? Why? My top?” the youngest girl spluttered, her words still sort of slurred.   
“You fell asleep in the living room. You woke up when Dahyun and I were trying to put your pajamas on and wouldn’t let us put your top on. Then you got upset every time me or Dahyun tried to leave so we gave up and went to sleep,” Mina chuckled, her voice low.  
“Aren’t you uncomfortable, up against the wall?” Chaeyoung asked innocently.  
“No, not while I’ve got hold of you,”  
Chaeyoung turned her head away and tried to suppress a smile. Mina’s comment had made her feel even more aware of where Mina was touching her, and it made her skin feel warm. Or maybe that was just a weird hangover symptom.   
“The salad bowl?” she whispered, looking at the bowl which sat at the end of the bed.  
At this point, Dahyun pressed her body closer to Chaeyoung and rested her hand on Mina’s hip. Her head lifted off Chaeyoung’s shoulder.  
“You carried that salad with you everywhere last night. I think you actually ate all of the salad by the time Mina and I came back in from outside, but you insisted on having it with you,” the blonde said, her voice seemed loud compared to Mina’s soft mumbles.  
Dahyun sat up slowly, and awkwardly, and yawned, rubbing her neck with a wince.  
“I had a fantastic dream last night,” she announced, “I ate a load of melons. Watermelons, honeydew, cantaloupe. They were glorious.”  
Mina and Chaeyoung whispered together, “Glorious melons.”

The three clambered out of bed and, after Chaeyoung put her top on, bounded into the kitchen. Well, Mina and Dahyun bounded, Chaeyoung waddled with her hand on her pounding head.  
Jeongyeon and Momo were sprawled out on the sofa bed. Momo’s glasses (which she still had on) were all askew. The third Japanese girl lay on the other sofa rubbing sleep out her eyes.   
Sana saw the three girls who walked in and smiled at Mina.  
“I think I heard someone running around upstairs earlier,” she said. Her dark eyes landed on Dahyun and she grinned mischievously, making the blonde girl start to sweat.  
Soon, Jihyo and Tzuyu arrived. Dahyun thought that Jihyo looked like death. She was pale with large bags under her eyes, which she could barely keep open. And she had no bra on. It wasn’t really Dahyun’s fault that she noticed that, it really was a simple observation, but she averted her gaze anyway. Tzuyu, however, looked gloriously pretty, like usual.   
“Where’s Nayeon?” Momo asked as she sat up. The girl beside her did the same and patted the space next to her for Jihyo to sit down.  
“She’s puking,” Tzuyu said, sounding fed up.  
“Again?” exclaimed Dahyun, “But she vommed last night.”  
Tzuyu shrugged.  
Jeongyeon laughed, “I can’t believe you shared a bed with her last night.”  
“I made her sleep on the floor,” Tzuyu said.  
With her usual good timing, Nayeon stumbled into the room and leant on Tzuyu, who looked displeased.  
“I lost my glasses,” she said, “I genuinely can’t see a thing. This had better be you, Tzuyu, and not a funny shaped lamp post. I just walked up to the six-foot thing in the middle of the room and hoped for the best.”  
Dahyun felt a few pairs of eye on her. Tzuyu poked her neck with a smile.  
“I swear that hickey has gotten bigger since last night,” Jeongyeon laughed loudly, “What were you three doing in my bed last night?” she teased.  
Dahyun felt her cheeks warm up. She pressed her hand over the mark on her neck and leaned into Chaeyoung, who was stood beside her.  
“Seriously, it’s the size of a tennis ball,” Jeongyeon said.  
“Even I can see it. And I’m blind,” declared Nayeon, Dahyun was sure that she could see a bit of sick in her hair, which was somehow frizzier than usual.  
“Unnie,” Dahyun whined, “You have vom in your hair.”  
Tzuyu walked away in disgust.  
“Debrief?” asked Jihyo, with a sigh.  
“Debrief,” the group confirmed.

The debrief seemed to take a lot longer than they all expected, it seemed that there was a lot to unpack from the night before.   
The game of truth or dare was easy to go through since they all remembered what was said and what happened. The group had a good laugh about the ‘glorious melons’ incident which made Dahyun cry out and hide her face in Chaeyoung’s neck.   
Nayeon could imagine the soppy smile on the short girl’s face when the other girl buried herself into her neck. Obviously, she couldn’t actually see it. All she could see was eight blurry blobs.   
Nayeon could feel another wave of nausea hit and thought that she’d best sit down. She sat herself down on the sofa next to a blurry blob which she thought might have been Tzuyu. Maybe it was Mina. They had dark hair.  
As she sat down, she leant closer to the less blurry, girl shaped blob. And realised that she had just sat next Sana. Good job, Nayeon.   
Sana gave Nayeon a funny look and leant back slightly. The older girl realised that she was leaning quite close to the pretty girl and leant as far in the opposite direction as she could manage without looking rude.  
“Alright there, grandma?” Jeongyeon asked teasingly.  
“Yep. Gotta rest my old lady joints,” Nayeon played along.  
The debrief continued as before, moving onto the mess that happened after the game ended.  
Nayeon found out that Mina disappeared before Jihyo and Jeongyeon went to the bathroom and she could vaguely remember Dahyun leaving to find Mina after Chaeyoung wandered off with her salad.  
Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember much past that point.  
Momo revealed that Tzuyu followed her fellow sophomore, so Momo, Sana and Nayeon danced together (which Nayeon found hard to believe). That’s when they heard a scream from upstairs.  
Chaeyoung admitted to screaming when she saw Jihyo and Jeongyeon making out in the bathroom. Nayeon saw the Jihyo and Jeongyeon blobs shift in their sits, presumably uncomfortably.   
Well, that was news to Nayeon.  
Tzuyu said that they all reconvened in the living room and Chaeyoung, Momo and Sana did shots together.  
“That’s why I can’t remember anything after seeing Jihyo and Jeongyeon,” Chaeyoung commented.  
Mina and Dahyun filled in at that point, describing what they saw when they re-entered the room after their chat outside (Nayeon noticed that didn’t mention what they were chatting about).   
“I gave two people a lap dance at the same time?” Momo exclaimed.  
“It mustn’t have been very good, I don’t remember it,” Nayeon said.  
“So you don’t remember dad dancing in the middle of the room for literally half an hour either?” Tzuyu asked. She probably raised her eyebrow. Nayeon opened her mouth, then closed it again with a huff. She could feel Sana shaking slightly beside her. Great, Sana laughing at her was just what she needed.  
The debrief ended with Mina and Dahyun telling the room how they set up the sofa beds, put Jihyo and Jeongyeon in different rooms and then moved Chaeyoung who wouldn’t let the girls leave her. It turned out that Mina and Dahyun had planned to sleep on the floor in the spare sleeping bags.   
Jihyo rubbed her head, or at least that’s what the Jihyo blob seemed to be doing, and sighed.  
“I suppose we owe you guys an apology,” she said, “Jeongyeon and I, we’re sorry for scaring Chaeyoung and we’re sorry for making out in front of everyone. I’m quite a- ah- sexual drunk,” she said sincerely. Jeongyeon agreed.  
“I think you owe us an explanation,” Nayeon said, directing her statement at Jeongyeon, who she was quite mad at for not telling her about Jihyo.  
Jeongyeon replied, “We started seeing each other over summer. It was just a casual thing, nothing serious.”  
“Is it still casual? Or are you two properly dating?” Mina asked.   
There was a moment of silence.  
“It’s just casual,” Jihyo said.  
And with that, the Jihyo blob got up and left the room, claiming that she was hungry and was going to make everyone breakfast.  
Nayeon squinted, “Can someone help me find my glasses?”

While Jihyo was making pancakes with Mina and Sana in the kitchen, Tzuyu and Dahyun helped search the house for Nayeon’s glasses. Chaeyoung disappeared off to the bathroom to take the first shower.   
(Momo had actually suggested that Nayeon take the first shower since she was the one who actually puked but her nerdy friend refused to do anything until she found her glasses).  
That left Momo alone with Jeongyeon, who sidled up the Japanese girl with a cheeky expression that made Momo nervous.  
“You can dance,” Jeongyeon stated. Momo could feel herself beginning to sweat.   
“Please don’t Jeongyeon-ah. I feel like my head is going to explode,” she said.  
“Drink some water, you’ll be fine,” the other girl replied then took a more serious tone, “I thought you gave up dancing when we moved to high school. You know, after you got cat called and freaked.”  
Momo simply shrugged and tucked a dark piece of hair behind her ear.  
“You’re really talented, you know,” Jeongyeon said.  
Momo stayed silent once again, but her cheeks betrayed her and blushed.  
“Will you be in the showcase? I need a dancer like you. Mina’s great and all, but she’s so busy with other stuff and she can’t do hip hop like you. And I know you can tap dance, you showed us last night when someone started playing show tunes,” she blurted.  
“Jeongyeon,” the Japanese girl said sadly, “I don’t know. There’s a reason that people don’t know I dance. I don’t think- “  
“Please! We’re desperate. You only have to do that one number, I won’t make you be in anything else. I’ll do anything you want,” Jeongyeon practically begged.  
Momo thought it over then signed reluctantly. She was never any good at saying no.  
“Okay. But you owe me one,” she gave into Jeongyeon’s pleading face.  
“Yah!” Jeongyeon fist pumped the air and gave the Japanese girl a quick, tight hug. She smiled at her friend and nodded.

After the nine girls ate Jihyo’s wonderful pancakes, they each took it in turns to take a shower.  
Sana was in the master bedroom with Jihyo, Tzuyu and Mina. Jihyo was towel drying her hair while Tzuyu was packing her things away into her overnight bag. Mina and Sana were waiting for their turn to shower, so they politely sat on the bed.  
“Did, erm, did you know who make an appearance?” Sana asked, almost shyly.  
“Who?” her Japanese friend replied.  
“You know, my alter ego,”   
“Oh, Sanake? Yeah,” Jihyo replied nonchalantly.  
“I can’t believe you named my alter ego,” Sana sneered.  
“She comes out often enough,” Tzuyu butted in. Sana looked at her, full of confusion. The younger girl shrugged, “I’ve been to parties with you before, remember.”  
“Sanake was quite well behaved last night. There was no random kissing or groping going on,” Mina commented.  
“Nayeon?” Sana asked quietly.  
“Nothing happened there. No fights. No sexually charged arguments. You just avoided each other,” Jihyo said, starting to apply make up to her tired face.  
“There is nothing sexually charged about our arguments. She can’t stand me,” Sana defended herself. The girls in the room laughed.  
“You were very friendly with me though,” Tzuyu said, “And I think you asked out Dahyun.”  
Sana jolted up, “Yah! Tzuyu-yah! It’s not like you were much better! I saw you when Momo was dancing. You were all like, ‘Oh, Momo-unnie, you sexually confusing dance machine. Let me stroke your abs.’,”  
Tzuyu clenched her jaw and went red.  
“Wow,” commented Jihyo, “That was uncanny.”  
Mina laughed loudly. Tzuyu frowned her with a terror inducing death glare.  
"You don't get to laugh either, Mina! You seemed like you were having a great time sucking on Dahyun's neck!"  
"That was a dare!" Mina protested, but her face turned red.   
Sana blinked for a moment in confusion.  
"Chaeyoung and Dahyun...?" she asked. Mina shook her dark head.  
"No, they aren't dating," Tzuyu answered confidently, "I'd know if they were."  
Suddenly, Mina spoke up.  
“Are we going to address the elephant in the room?” she asked, “The big elephant which says that Jihyo and Jeongyeon are just casual.”  
Jihyo put her make up down and sighed.  
“Our relationship is casual. More of a friends-with-benefits type of thing,” she said quietly.  
“But your feelings aren’t casual, are they?” Sana asked. She slid down off the bed to rest her hand on her friend’s shoulder. Jihyo let out a heavy breath and leant back into Sana’s touch.  
“No. They aren’t,” she admitted.   
She turned to face her Japanese friend with tears in her big eyes.  
“Sana-unnie. What do I do?”   
All Sana could do was envelope her friend in a hug. She was closely followed by Mina. Even Tzuyu got in on the hug.   
Sana really wasn’t the one to ask for relationship advice.

Momo was the first to leave. She bid Nayeon goodbye with a hug and an apology for ditching her. Nayeon wasn’t bothered though, she knew that her friend had to get to dance class. After the nerdy girl left, Chaeyoung turned to Mina and asked shyly if she had to get to dance class as well.  
“No,” Mina had replied, “Momo does more hip-hop classes than I do. She teaches too. I have a while before I have ballet class.” She paused with a smile. “I get to spend more time here.”  
Nayeon could see that a “with you” was heavily implied. With her glasses back on her face where they belonged (instead of in the fridge- don’t ask) and her ability to see restored, the shy smile and slight blush on Chaeyoung’s face was very apparent.  
Sana, Tzuyu and Jihyo were the next to leave as Jihyo was getting a lift with Sana’s parents and Tzuyu lived nearby. According to Sana, her parents were very fond of Tzuyu because she was very polite. Nayeon always thought that Sana’s parents had hated her, though that was probably something to do with her corrupting their precious daughter with her gayness. If only they knew.  
As Jihyo left, she gave Jeongyeon a very awkward kiss on the cheek.  
The remaining five were there for quite a while, they were waiting for Chaeyoung’s parents. The short girl had already managed to convince Mina to let her give her a lift, the Japanese girl had planned on getting the bus home if her own parents were unavailable.   
Nayeon shipped it.   
“I don’t think I’ve ever been that drunk,” commented Chaeyoung after a while.  
“Yeah, who let you get that drunk. You’re a child,” Nayeon said with a teasing poke.  
“Shut up grandma,” laughed Jeongyeon.  
“At least you’re a cute drunk,” Dahyun piped up, smiling down at her friend. Chaeyoung beamed.  
“Bro,” she said, nodding her orange head.  
“Bro,” Dahyun agreed. The two fist bumped. Then Dahyun said, “Seriously though, you were drooling everywhere when you were sleeping on Tzuyu. You were like a sick koala or something. It was precious.”  
What the fuck? Nayeon thought to herself with a grimace. A sick koala? Romantic.  
Mina laughed out loud. Both Dahyun and Chaeyoung turned to look at her with wide eyes and soft smiles. Oh dear. Nayeon predicted that that triangle would get messy.  
Soon, the three younger girls left. Chaeyoung grabbed Mina’s hand as she ran out of the door. Dahyun followed them once she had put a scarf around her neck that Jeongyeon had chucked at her.

Only Jeongyeon and Nayeon were left.   
“Last night I dreamt that Jihyo gave me a makeover. Mina and Momo were there to wearing fucking weird dresses. Drunk dreams are weird,” Nayeon announced.  
“You know, since you’ve chosen to do scenes from ‘the Princess Diaries’ after the makeover bit in the showcase, we are going to have to give you a makeover. Straighten out your hair and everything,” Jeongyeon warned the older girl. Nayeon wrinkled her nose.  
“I hate the word straight,” she muttered.  
The short haired girl stood up and left the room, leaving Nayeon alone with her thoughts.  
The party wasn’t a complete disaster, was it? It was messy but it was fun. Well worth the hangover. And the party was proof that Sana and Nayeon could be in a room together without murdering one another or having any mental breakdowns. They just had to pretend that the other didn’t exist.   
Jeongyeon soon returned with some sheets of paper in her hand.  
“Read this,” she commanded.  
Nayeon looked over the pages.  
“Is this the thing you’re writing for the showcase?” the brunette asked.  
“I actually started writing it a while ago,” the younger girl admitted, “But I adapted it so that it was a short piece suitable for the showcase. It’s quite personal, actually.”  
Nayeon began to read it.   
It was harrowing. It was from the point of view of a girl who was trying to figure out her sexuality. A girl who had feelings for her best friend. A girl who hated her own feelings and tried to push them down. A girl who sounded a lot like Nayeon.  
“I didn’t know you felt that way, Jeongyeon,” Nayeon whispered, “When you came out, it was like you’d recently had an epiphany and that was it, you were so cool about it.”  
“I questioned for a lot longer than I let on. I was so confused because I was attracted to boys so I knew I couldn’t be gay. I hated that I found girls attractive and buried it for ages until I just couldn’t ignore it any more. I only came out once I’d come to terms with my sexuality. By the time I came out, I felt pretty cool about the whole bi thing. But for a while, I felt so afraid,” Jeongyeon whispered, her voice low.  
Nayeon read to the end of the play.  
“The ending, I can’t decide if it’s happy or not,”  
The play ended with the main character admitting to her friend that she’s in love with her and kissing her. Then the lights would go down.  
“You don’t get to see if the friend’s reaction. Does she kiss back? Does she also have feelings for the protagonist,” Nayeon asked, slightly frustrated.   
Jeongyeon hung her head and shrugged, “Dunno. I guess it’s up for interpretation.”  
She paused for a moment, “I want Chaeyoung to play the character that’s based off me. She’s a good actress and I see a bit of myself in her.”  
“Yeah, and she can play love sick puppy well,” Nayeon chuckled.  
Jeongyeon hummed to herself.  
“I want to try to get Mina to act opposite her. I want the couple to have chemistry and I really do think those two have bags of it,” the short haired girl said, almost to herself.  
Nayeon agreed.  
The nerdy girl read through the script again and paused as she reached the end. Something had hit her, a realisation (and another wave of nausea because hangovers are the worst).  
“You’re in love with her, aren’t you? You’re in love with Jihyo!” Nayeon accused her friend, “That’s why the ending is so open. Because this is you imagining that you tell her that you love her and you don’t know how she’ll react!”   
Jeongyeon got uncharacteristically teary.  
“I love her so much, Nayeon. I’ve liked her for a bit. When we were younger it was us three and then Sana came along and it became you and Sana, and me and Jihyo. Then Momo came along and you two got close and even though I drifted from all of you, I remained good friends with Jihyo, and you, of course. She was the one who accidently kissed me and made me realise that the reason I hated skinship was because I like girls. I guess I secretely liked her since then, I just never realised. Then, we kissed for real last July and it was amazing and we ended up having sex and everything was just incredible but we agreed to keep it casual. Keep feelings out of it. We were just having fun with each other,” a tear dripped down the younger girl’s cheek, “And then I had to go and fall in love with her. She’s so kind and thoughtful and selfless. And I’m so selfish. I know I should tell her or call off our relationship but I love her too much to let go.”  
Nayeon stared at her friend and blinked. She was so surprised. She’d never seen the cool, funny Jeongyeon break down like this. After a quick moment, she enveloped her crying friend in a hug.  
“Maybe you should talk to her, Jeongyeon,” Nayeon said, calmly, “I think she really likes you. The Jihyo I know would never even kiss someone in public unless she really, really liked them, never mind full on make out with them shirtless. Not that I remember it mind.”  
Jeongyeon sobbed in response.  
Eventually the short haired girl pulled away and wiped her face with her sleeve.   
“Sana cried last night too. It was just before Momo, Sana and I went to bed. You’d probably gone to puke at that point,” Jeongyeon revealed nonchalantly.  
Nayeon tried to pretend that she wasn’t bothered by the news and made a non-commital noise.  
“Yeah, I don’t think she remembers. I know that Momo doesn’t remember. She was crying about how no one will ever love her like her Nayeonnie used to,”  
Nayeon felt anger boil beneath her skin. She clenched her jaw and looked up, trying to hold back tears of anger.  
“Perhaps she should have thought about that before she videoed me confessing to her and played the video in front of the whole school,” Nayeon said darkly.  
“I think she’s genuinely sorry, you know. I’m not sure she ever got over you,” Jeongyeon tried.  
“No, Jeongyeon. You have to actual have feelings to get over if you’re going to get over someone,” Nayeon muttered. Surprisingly her tear ducts were dry, almost as if she had run out of tears to cry.   
Her phone buzzed with a message from her mum.   
“Talk to Jihyo. I think you’ll be surprised,” the older girl said as she stood up, dusting down her ill-fitting skirt. She turned to face her with a sad smile, “Just, watch out for cameras.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is wondering, a lot Jeongyeon's feelings here are based off my own, particularly the bit about her coming to terms with her sexuality. Although I never had a Jihyo to kiss me and make me realise that I like girls (and still don't lol).  
> This one wasn't supposed to be angsty at the end like it was but oh well.  
> I hope it was enjoyable.  
> Feel free to give feedback.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a smaller chapter. Not much plot involved. More of a DahMiChaeng focus. I just a bit carried away writing a scene that was supposed to be small and this chapter was born.

It was the Monday after the eventful party at Jeongyeon’s place. Chaeyoung had just received a text from Jeongyeon asking to meet her after school. She made her way to the room her unnie had suggested, trying to ignore the looks that people gave her on her way through the school halls.   
She casually walked into the classroom and saw that it was already occupied by one person.  
That person smiled brightly when she saw the short girl enter the room and tilted her head slightly.  
“Hello, Chaeyoung,” Mina said sweetly, “Did Jeongyeon ask to meet you here too?”  
Sitting down on the desk, the orange haired girl merely nodded dumbly. She thought that Mina looked especially pretty today with her hair up in a ponytail and her fringe falling perfectly to frame her face.   
The Japanese girl suddenly started to rustle through her bag and pulled something out.  
“Before I forget, here you go,” she said as she handed Chaeyoung a small, long package.  
The short girl looked down at it and smiled slightly, mainly out of confusion. It was a pack of artist’s pencils. It had four very good quality pencils of varying thickness with a pattern that looked like splashes of paint. They were beautiful. Chaeyoung looked up to see Mina looking at her with a hopeful expression.  
“Do you like them?” she asked shyly, “I promised that I’d get you new pencils a few weeks ago when we met in the corridor, remember? I kept on forgetting to give them to you. But I always keep my promises.”  
“I love them!” Chaeyoung said loudly, “Thank you, Mina-unnie! They’re amazing.”  
Seemingly out of nowhere, Jeongyeon burst through the door with a load of sheets of paper in her hands.  
“Sorry, I had to go use the printers,” she apologised. Taking a seat, Jeongyeon ran her hands through her light brown hair and handed the pages to Chaeyoung and Mina. “My original work,” she said proudly, “It’s not quite finished yet. It needs some editing and there’s a few places where there are lines left blank but, yeah.”  
“This is beautiful, Jeongyeon,” Mina gushed.  
Chaeyoung read through the pages and hummed in agreement. She found the content quite relatable. A girl with feelings for her best friend. Where had Chaeyoung heard that before?  
“It’s amazing writing. But why are you showing us this?” the youngest asked with a frown.  
“I want you two to play the leads. I was very impressed by both of your auditions. And, I want the two leads to be played by people with chemistry. This piece doesn’t work if the actors have no chemistry. So I wanted to show you the piece first and make sure that you’re both comfortable playing these roles. Especially with the ending being the way it is,” Jeongyeon explained.  
“You think we have chemistry?” Chaeyoung couldn’t help but burst out.   
The oldest girl nodded absent mindedly, re-reading a section of the text.  
The orange haired girl looked to the girl beside her. She suddenly noticed how close to each other they were sitting, how their hands were touching, how if she moved her hand slightly closer, they would be holding hands.   
Was it just her imagination, or was Mina blushing a little?   
She had her face turned away from Chaeyoung so she couldn’t know for sure.  
“I’d be happy to do the piece. And I’m flattered that you even asked me,” Mina graciously accepted.  
“Sure, I’ll do it too,” Chaeyoung said without even thinking.   
‘Oh shit,’ she thought to herself.  
Looking over the draft again, Chaeyoung hummed then said, “What if we arranged it so that the audience thinks that the protagonist is a boy at first? And that gives it a bit of a rom com vibe. Then it’s revealed when we move onto discussions of sexuality that she is actually a girl. Make the audience care about the relationship then BAM! Reveal the gayness.”  
Jeongyeon looked thoughtful for a minute, “That could work. We could get you a boy’s wig, dress you in baggy clothes. But we’d have to do the gender reveal quite quickly.”  
She began to scribble some notes onto the page.  
“Are you free this evening? Some time after six, maybe? I need to go study for a bit but let’s discuss this,” she finally said.  
Surprised, Chaeyoung agreed to meet her. Jeongyeon slapped her on the shoulder and rushed out, leaving Chaeyoung and Mina alone again.

The two girls wandered down the empty corridors.   
“So, uh, what are you up to tonight?” Chaeyoung asked awkwardly.   
“Well, I have ballet tonight. But I might go early and see if there’s a free studio. I need to work on the choreography for dance club,” Mina replied.  
“Oh, cool,” the short girl said. She bit her lip and tried to think of something else to say.   
“Did you really like Jeongyeon’s play?”   
Mina giggled.  
“Yeah, I loved it. It’s so beautiful and honest and I think many people could probably relate to it in some way,” she said.  
“Even you?” the younger girl asked. Mina nodded.  
“Even me.”  
The sound of a lonely piano filled the hallways.   
“Who is that?” Mina asked curiously.  
Chaeyoung shrugged. She thought that she had an idea who it might be.  
The two followed the sound towards the music practice rooms.  
There was a girl sat at the piano in one of the rooms with her back facing the door. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun on the top of her head. The girl seemed to sway in time with the music.   
“Is that…?” Mina asked.  
Chaeyoung’s chest swelled with pride. That was her best friend playing hauntingly beautiful music.  
“Yeah,”  
“I haven’t heard that piece before. Do you know what it is?”   
The younger girl shook her head, “No. It might be original. Dahyun tends to improvise a lot. It drives her parents mad so if she doesn’t feel like doing scales and shit, she’ll practice in school.”  
As the Japanese girl nodded in approval, the music suddenly stopped.  
The girl at the piano leant forwards and put her head in her hands, resting her elbows on the piano keys. The notes that come from the piano were jarring.  
There was silence as the two girls watched the shoulders of the girl at the piano shake lightly.   
“Should we?” Mina whispered uncertainly.   
Chaeyoung open her mouth, then closed it again when the girl at the piano sat back up.  
Her hands went to her face, then her skirt, and then they rested back on the keys.  
Chaeyoung watched her friend’s back rise and fall once more.  
Then music burst from the room again.  
It was soft and pretty and sad. So, so sad.  
The girl beside Chaeyoung perked up.  
“I think I know this one,” she whispered.  
Her hands and arms started to flutter into some ballet positions. Her feet seemed to move on their own accord. Mina turned to Chaeyoung and smiled. “I do know this one.”  
Before Chaeyoung could stop her, Mina opened the door to the practice room and slid inside quietly. She moved to the centre of the room and raised her arms in the air.  
Dahyun’s head moved, she had clearly seen the intruder, but she continued to play.  
Mina’s arms moved down and she rose onto her toes. Her arms continued to move so she looked like she was flying gracefully.  
The ballet dancer gracefully moved across the room, her arms making the graceful flapping motion.   
Chaeyoung had never seen or heard a sight so beautiful.  
When Mina turned to face the front, her face looked solemn and sad. Her eyes were filled with tears.  
As the song reached its end, Mina knelt on the floor and raised her arms, circling them around her head and body. Her put one leg out in front of her and began to lean over it. With one last breath, her body fell onto her leg and put her arms above her head in time with the ending of the music.  
Chaeyoung let out a sob. She’d been so entranced that she hadn’t even noticed that she was crying.  
Dahyun turned her blonde head around to the open door. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were slightly puffy.   
“The dying swan, Tchaikovsky. From swan lake. That’s how the ballet ends, with Odette, the good swan’s, death. It- the music, I mean- is more impressive with a full orchestra,” Dahyun said, locking eyes with Chaeyoung. She turned to the girl who was pulling herself off the floor.  
“You were beautiful, Mina. Breath-taking,” she said sincerely.  
The short girl walked towards the girl at the piano and rested one of her hands on her shoulder.  
“You both were,”  
“You’re so talented, Dahyun. I’ve never heard that piece played with so much sincerity. It was like the emotion was leaking out of the keys,” Mina gushed. The pale girl blushed.  
“I’ve never seen that dance performed with such elegance and melancholy. It was like you were actually dying and you were genuinely sad, but part of you had resigned to your death,” Dahyun returned the compliment, avoiding Mina’s intense gaze.   
The two stared at each other for a few moments. Chaeyoung stood and watched in awe.  
She felt the green-eyed monster rear its head, but at this point she wasn’t actually sure which girl she was jealous of.   
Her grip on Dahyun’s shoulder tightened slightly. The girl at the piano raised her hand and rested it on Chaeyoung’s hand. She turned to look up (for once) at her friend with a wide smile and her beautiful half-moon eyes.   
Mina’s chuckle interrupted them.  
“You haven’t done a very good job at hiding your hickey, Dahyun,” she laughed.   
Chaeyoung’s eyes were drawn to the big red mark on the side of her pale neck. There were makeup marks on the top of her collar too.  
Blushing, Dahyun cried, “I had gym today! I must have wiped off the makeup by mistake.”  
“Does it still hurt?” Chaeyoung asked, her fingers brushing over the bruise.  
She could have sworn that Dahyun shivered. It was quite chilly in that practice room.  
“Erm, a bit. Not as much as did on Saturday though. And it’s faded a lot since then,” the blonde admitted. Mina sighed.  
“I knew we should have put ice on it at the party,” she said, “But I suppose we were too busy dealing with that mess. And then we had Chaengie clinging to us.”  
The three girls laughed.  
Chaeyoung noticed Dahyun’s fingers twitching over the keys of the piano.  
“If you want to play again, we can leave,”  
“Stay,” Dahyun said. Chaeyoung looked eyes with her and nodded. The pianist turned to Mina, “Do you know any of the solos from sleeping beauty?”  
The ballet dancer nodded.  
Smiling to herself, Dahyun began to play another song.  
With an odd bounce and a grin, Mina began to dance to it.  
Chaeyoung settled in the corner and watched in awe.  
Struck with inspiration, the artsy girl pulled her sketchpad out of her bag along with her new pencils. She flipped the book open to a new page and began to sketch.  
She started with a figure sat at a piano then drew a figure in an elegant dancing pose.  
Originally, she had drawn Dahyun looking at the keys, but when she saw the way that the pale girl watched Mina, while still managing to play beautifully, Chaeyoung couldn’t help but draw that look of awe on her friend’s face.  
If only she would look at Chaeyoung like that.

Earlier that day, Dahyun walked out of her last class, gym, feeling quite content. Having said that, she felt like her head was still reeling after the events on the previous Friday night. The painful mark on her neck was still proving to serve as a reminder of the evening. Every time she moved her neck, a dull ache reminded her of how good it felt having Mina’s lips on her neck, sucking and biting the skin. It reminded her of Chaeyoung’s blown eyes that had watched her, and how the darkness in those had aroused her further. It reminded her of how it amazing it had felt to sleep with Chaeyoung in her arms, and Mina within touching distance.  
As she walked down the halls, she spotted an orange head of hear breeze past her.  
“Chaeyoung-ah,” she called after it.  
Either the short girl hadn’t heard Dahyun, or she was ignoring her. Dahyun chose to believe that her friend simply hadn’t heard, she didn’t think she would ignore her like that. They were bros.  
“Trouble in paradise?” a boy’s voice mocked. A heavy body shoved Dahyun into the locker beside her. He muttered something as he walked away.  
People seemed to move away as quickly as they could from the tall boy, Dahyun thought it might have been Daejung, one of the boys on the football team, a senior.   
“What did you just call me?” Dahyun asked defensively. The boy turned around with an aggressive smirk. The blonde cursed her big mouth.  
“I called you a dyke,” he sneered. “Don’t try to deny it, we all know you’re on the gay club committee.”  
With that, he shoved Dahyun again, harder this time.  
His eyes were drawn the girl’s neck. He pinched the skin where her hickey was, making Dahyun cry out.  
“You’re too pretty to be a dyke. Maybe you just need straightening out,” he said, his rank breath was hot against Dahyun’s cheek as he leant menacingly towards her.  
Dahyun froze.  
“Back off, Daejung. You made your point,” a familiar female voice called out.  
Dahyun looked around the boy’s body and saw Minatozaki Sana.   
The boy turned around and looked the pretty girl up and down. It made Dahyun want to retch.  
“You’ve changed your tune. Couple years ago, hell, I bet even a couple of weeks ago, you would have happily watched me beat the shit out of this dyke,” he said accusingly.  
Sana did not look impressed.  
“Don’t say that word, Daejung. Besides, I’ve grown up since then. You clearly haven’t,” she replied, matching his tone.   
Looking a bit defeated, the boy looked around the hallway. Seeing that no one was going to defend him, he stalked off.  
The remaining students in the corridor continued as if nothing had happened.  
Dahyun felt tears welling up in her eyes. She turned to her rescuer.  
“You good?” Sana asked curtly, her eyes looked around the hallway.  
“Yeah, thanks Sana. You really saved my ass there,” Dahyun gushed, her voice cracking a little.  
“Yeah, well, don’t mention it,” Sana shrugged, “And maybe keep it to yourself that it was me that sent Daejung on his way.”  
With that, she turned and stalked off, doing her popular girl supermodel walk down the centre of the corridor.  
Dahyun watched her go.   
After a bit, she became aware that she was stood randomly, doing nothing.   
She started moving. Her eyes were filling up with tears. Her fingers itched. She feet began to move automatically.  
She found herself outside of a music practice room.  
Cautiously, she opened the door and stepped inside.  
She sat on the piano stool and opened the lid. The keys were slightly blurry.  
She played a few scales to warm up her fingers.   
Then she began to play.  
Her fingers seemed to move on their own accord.  
The music flowed out of body, through the piano and into the air where it ebbed away into the distance.  
Dahyun poured out her feelings onto the keys. Her feelings of hurt, surprise and disgust. Her feelings of betrayal due to Sana’s request. Her feelings of love that would never be requited and of confusion.  
God, she was so confused.  
Why did she have to be this way? Why did people hate something she couldn’t control? Why did she see two faces now when she closed her eyes, and not just one? Why couldn’t she pull her mind away from the feeling of unfamiliar lips roughly sucking on her neck?  
After a while she stopped playing.  
She pressed her head into her hands, ignoring the jarring sound the piano made.  
Maybe, maybe she was special. Maybe she was capable of having feelings for more than one person. Yet, the girls she liked would never like her back. She knew that.  
Dahyun sat up, wiped the remaining tears from her face then wiped her wet hands on her skirt. She put her fingers on the keys and sighed, thinking about what piece to play next.  
An idea popped into her head.   
And so she played.  
Out of her fingers flowed a tragically beautiful song, The Dying Swan.


	11. Chapter 11

A few weeks had passed since the post-audition party, and Nayeon was stood nervously outside of a door. Her frizzy hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail, leaving a few curls to frame her face. She brushed down her skirt that went all the way down to her knees and pulled on the lapels of her blazer that was a size too big for her. She looked down at her wrinkled shirt and sighed. She really wished that her mum had had time to iron it. Or that she knew how to iron.   
Jeongyeon walked up to the girl.  
“Hey, grandma! How long have you been standing outside of the door for?” she asked teasingly.  
“Shut up, Jeongyeon. I have worries,” Nayeon replied defensively. The girl beside her laughed and shook her head before she walked into the room.  
With a final sigh, Nayeon pushed her glasses her up her nose and pushed open the door.

The meeting started soon after Nayeon sat down in her seat.   
Student council president Park Jihyo had stood up and addressed the room, welcoming them to the termly ‘council and societies’ meeting.   
The society reps had to stand up and report about how the societies had done the previous term and start of the current term, and their plans for the rest of the term.  
As it got closer to her turn to speak, Nayeon pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket with her report, and request for later, scribbled on it.   
“Im Nayeon, representative of the lgbt society,” the chair announced, sounding bored.  
Nayeon stood up, her heart beating rapidly. It only sped up when she found Minatozaki Sana’s eyes boring into her.   
With an awkward cough, Nayeon reported about how the Principal had asked for the society to be set up so Nayeon had got together a committee and started the society. She spoke about the secret time and location policy which allowed closeted students, and their allies, to join without risk of being outed prematurely (when she said this, her eyes fell on Sana and a slight sneer graced her lips) and how they had a decent amount of members which had increased slightly (by one) over the past few weeks. She mentioned how the society was a safe space. She also mentioned how the society had a pitiful budget which meant that they couldn’t run any of the social events expected of societies. She mentioned their plans to do fundraisers to get money for the society.  
The chair asked if there were any questions for Nayeon.  
Usually the student council committee would murmur a collective “No” and the meeting would move on.  
However, one student member raised her hand and asked a question.  
“What fundraisers do you plan to do? How do you plan to raise money for gay club?” Sana asked, her hand remained stuck in the air.   
Nayeon bristled then turned to the girl with an overly polite smile.  
“Firstly, the society isn’t called gay club. There’s more than just gay people in our society. It’s an lgbt society,” Nayeon spoke slowly, mainly to make sure that she didn’t make a fool of herself and stammer. Proud of how confident she sounded, the nerdy girl continued, “Secondly, with the permission of President Park, we planned to do a bake sale. Half of the profits would go to our society and the other half would go to charity. We’d hope that it would go to a lgbt charity. However, we also had hopes that we could get the pta involved in the bake sale, those mums do like their cake sales. This was actually something that I was going to raise later in the meeting.” Nayeon started out confidently, but with everyone’s eyes on her, her confidence started to diminish and the last sentence came out as a mumble.   
Nodding, the chair tried to move the meeting along. Sana scoffed loudly and held her hand out in front of the chair, making him stop before he could speak.  
“With all due respect,” Sana said sarcastically, “What makes you think that the pta will get involved with gay club?”  
Flustered, Nayeon replied, “Once again, it’s lgbt society, not gay club. And w-we have members in our society whose parents are part of the pta. And we’d hope that the money going to charity would help to convince the parents as well. This is a society for student wellbeing, we wouldn’t just be buying new uniforms or something like that. We’d put the money earned to good use.”  
Sana tilted her head, “Are you suggesting that sports teams shouldn’t spend their money on uniforms which they have to wear when representing the school? Are suggesting that sports teams aren’t as important as your gay club?”  
Nayeon sighed sharply and made fists with her hands which tucked into her skirt.  
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. Lgbt society, not gay club, has a much smaller budget than clubs such as sports teams so we need to raise the money ourselves,” she said, her voice wavering.  
“I think there’s a reason gay club has a smaller budget, don’t you?”   
Mina, who was sat next to Sana, tried to rest her hand on her friend’s arm, but it was quickly shoved off.  
Nayeon chose to ignore Sana’s comment.  
“We just thought, th-that getting the pta involved would allow us t-to raise more money. A-and that means th-that we can give to ch-charity as well as r-raising money for ourselves,” the brunette stammered.  
The chair tried to move things on again, but Sana interrupted.  
“What do lgbt charities even do anyway? I don’t think that the pta, even if they were somehow interested in raising money for gay club, would want the money to go to a charity that just, like, gives money to gays or something,” she said condescendingly.  
“It is lgbt society, not gay club,” Nayeon spoke slower as she lost her temper more and more, “And lgbt charities don’t give money to lgbt people. The money they raise go to the resources required to help lgbt people in need. Whether it’s helping queer people on the streets or having a hotline service.”  
Nayeon could see Mina and Jihyo trying to hold the Japanese girl back and allow them to continue with the meeting. The rest of the committee, and most of the society reps, however were smiling and quietly cheering Sana on.  
“Why would an lgbt person be in need? Why would they need a charity specific for gays to help them?” she spoke louder, her cheeks had reddened. She held her phone to her ear and said in a mocking tone, “Hello operator? I’m a gay. I’m so sad. Boo hoo.”  
Nayeon snapped.  
“You know what, Sana? Sometimes being gay really sucks. For starters, questioning your sexuality is hard and it’s confusing and it sucks. To have someone to talk to makes it so much easier, that’s what our society is for. And lgbt people have to deal with so much shit. When I was fucking forced out of the closet, I was bullied mercilessly. I felt hopeless and shitty. My own father wouldn’t even speak to me once he saw the video of me saying that I was a lesbian and kissing the girl I confessed it too. He still won’t look me in the eye, Sana! And you say that gay people don’t have problems because of their sexuality. That’s bullshit,” the words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them.  
Sana suddenly stood up angrily and locked eyes with her opponent.  
Nayeon felt her heart rate increase and her face warm up.  
Sana’s voice was low and menacing, “Don’t talk to me as if it’s my fault that you’re a lesbian, Im Nayeon.”  
“I never suggested that it was,” Nayeon replied, her eyes remained locked with Sana’s.  
“All I’m saying, is that the pta won’t help raise money for your gay club,” said Sana between clenched teeth.  
“It’s not called gay club!” Nayeon shouted across the room.  
“I don’t care!” Sana shouted back.  
“Well, you fucking should, Sana! You of all people fucking should,” Nayeon shouted one last time.   
The room gasped.  
The two girls remained staring at each other intensely. Their chests heaved up and down, utter hatred on their faces. Yet, they were both flushed. Nayeon’s head was ringing. It felt like there was pressure in her lower belly, like someone had restricted her chest and pressed down on her stomach. She decided to believe that that feeling was anger (she knew better).  
Suddenly, the weight of the argument came crashing down on Nayeon and she looked down quickly. The implication of her words hung heavy in the room. The nerdy girl placed a hand over mouth.  
“Did you just imply that I’m a lesbian?” Sana asked darkly, “Did you really just accuse me of being gay?”  
Nayeon shook her head quickly.  
“No, no that’s not what I meant. I just meant because you’re vice-president of school and-“ the brunette began to blabber.  
The look on Sana’s face made her trial off.  
“I’m not gay, like you, Im Nayeon,” Sana spat, her voice was low and full of venom (and ridiculously sexy), “I am nothing like you.”

Sana had to the leave the room for a few minutes, she was quickly followed out by Jihyo and Mina. The meeting couldn’t carry on without the presence of the president, or the vice-president to take her place, so the room had to wait awkwardly for their return.  
Nayeon sat on her chair trying to fight back tears.   
Jeongyeon reached over to rub her thigh encouragingly, but she was ignored by the brunette who stared at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand.  
Once the three girls returned, the meeting continued.  
Sana’s face was red and puffy, she still looked angry, but a bit ashamed too. From where Nayeon was sat, she was sure that she could see a funny red mark on Sana’s cheek, almost as if she had been slapped.   
The next few societies said their piece, including Sana who spoke on behalf of the basketball team. Her voice sounded higher in pitch than usual.  
Jeongyeon then stood up for her report. She spoke about the play which happened the previous term and then spoke about the plans for fall play, or showcase in this case. And then Jeongyeon got onto the subject of profits and finance.  
“Since a few of the scenes have both the male and the female role played by girls and one of the sections in particular has very strong lgbt themes, I plan to arrange it so that some of the profits will go the lgbt society and some will go to an lgbt society,” the tall girl finished strongly.  
The room looked towards Sana who pursed her lips, but remained quiet.  
Instead, one of the boys on the council spoke up instead.  
“A proportion of the profits from the theatre club’s performances always goes to the school. How do you plan to balance the proportion of profits going to each place to ensure that the school and your club receive enough money?” he said, flicking his pen.  
The council murmured in agreement.   
Jeongyeon merely smiled.  
“Good question. In the past, 25% of profits have gone to the school, 25% to charity and the rest stayed in theatre club’s bank account. I’ve chosen an lgbt charity to be this term’s charity. And I plan for 10% of the profits to go to the lgbt society. The school will get the same proportion of the profits. I’ve spoken with the drama faculty and they are happy for theatre club to receive 40% of the profits instead of the whole 50%,” Jeongyeon explained calmly.   
“Ah, Nayeon must have done something really impressive to convince you to give her your club’s money, eh?” Sana piped up as she inspected her nails. Mina elbowed her.  
The innuendo was not lost on anyone in the room.   
Jeongyeon rolled her eyes and made eye contact with Jihyo who did not look impressed.  
Many people in the room laughed.  
Fed up, Nayeon remarked, “You seem pretty interested in my sex life, Sana.”  
“Or lack there-of,” the Japanese girl retorted.  
“Interesting. You seem to be implying that I am both a virgin and a person who sleeps their way to the top. Not sure how I could be both. Care to comment?” Nayeon fired back passive aggressively, her heart beginning to race again.  
“Are you suggesting that I am both of those things?” Sana asked, clearly losing her temper again.  
This time, Nayeon knew when to back down.  
“No, not at all,” she said, “And for the record, I had nothing to do with theatre club’s choice to give money to the lgbt society. That was all Jeongyeon.”  
Sana glared at the short haired girl, then caught Jihyo staring at her and huffed in defeat.  
“Well, your loss,” the boy from before spoke up.  
The meeting was over very soon after that.

While the meeting was in progress, Momo stood in the same corridor as the room that the meeting was in. She had just been in the library but finished her work quickly and decided to wait for Nayeon to finish. The meeting seemed to be going on longer than she thought. And she thought that she could hear some muffled shouts coming from the room, if she strained enough she could probably hear. But she didn’t dare get any closer to the room in case someone somehow managed to spot her.  
A tall figure walked down the corridor.  
Tzuyu saw Momo leaning against the wall and smiled brightly, revealing the cute dimple that made Momo melt.  
She walked towards her unnie. As she was walking, Momo’s eyes dropped to the tall girl’s long legs. Tzuyu must have rolled up her skirt today as more leg was on show than usual and Momo couldn’t help but blush.  
“Hello, Momo-unnie, I see you finally bought a new headband,” Tzuyu said.  
The older girl’s hand went immediately to the side of her head, feeling the fabric of her thick, white headband.   
“Ah, yes. Hopefully Jeongyeon won’t burn this one,” Momo replied shyly, pushing her glasses up her nose.  
Suddenly, there saw a bang, the sound of a door being forced open.  
Panicked, Momo pulled Tzuyu into a nearby classroom.  
Through the window, they saw Sana stalk into the hallway with a furious look on her face. She was closely followed by Mina.  
Momo put her arm on Tzuyu to stop her from rushing towards them.  
“How dare she?” they heard Sana shout.  
“You can hardly blame her, Sana,” they (just about) heard Mina say, sounding annoyed, “You were winding her up on purpose. You shouldn’t have said those things.”  
“I shouldn’t have said what? That the pta won’t support them? They won’t you know! There’s too many homophobic and religious parents on the pta committee, my parents being among them,” Sana said.  
“That’s not the point you shouldn’t have been so harsh,” Mina tried to berate her friend.  
At that moment, Jihyo stormed out of the room, walked right up to Sana and slapped her across her cheek.  
A loud crack rang out across the otherwise silent hallway.  
Sana let out an audible gasp.  
“How dare you, Sana. Firstly, how dare you create a scene like that in our first termly meeting with the societies. It’s unprofessional. The poor girl was just trying to earn some money for her society since the student council committee refused to give her any more than a pittance for a budget,” Jihyo ranted.  
Sana attempted to interrupt.  
“No, I’m not done,” the president continued to speak, “What you said about gay people not having problems was out of order. You know how much I struggled with my feelings and you’ve been there when Mina and I were having breakdowns over sexuality and you comforted us. So for you to say that to that room feels like a stab in the back.”  
Sana sighed.  
“I’m sorry, Jihyo,” she apologised, “Everything that girl does pisses me off. I don’t know why but in that moment, I just wanted to hurt her. I shouldn’t have said all that. But, what she said to me was out of order.”  
“You’re only mad because it’s true,” Mina said wisely, “And you only hate her because it’s easy.”  
There was silence. All Momo could here was the sound of her and Tzuyu breathing.   
After a few moments, the girls left the hallway.   
“That was intense,” Tzuyu remarked breathlessly.  
Only when she turned to look at the other girl did Momo notice how close they were, crouched side by side behind the window. The two turned to each other at the same time.  
Their faces were very close, only inches separated them.  
Momo could see all the details on the younger’s face. For a second, her eyes glanced down to the other girl’s lips. When she looked back to Tzuyu’s eyes, the younger girl had her own eyes focussed downwards.   
Blushing profusely, Momo turned her head away and stood up.  
“Let’s get out of here before we get caught,” she said quickly.  
Tzuyu nodded in agreement.

It was fair to say that the theatre club rehearsal that day was a complete disaster.   
Tension was running high.  
The rehearsal started off well enough with Dahyun and Chaeyoung performing their piece from a k-drama. It was funny. Dahyun did some awkward dancing and they replaced kissing with shoving food in each other’s mouths. Nayeon thought that it was an odd choice, but it was funny.  
Then things started to go down-hill when Nayeon entered the stage to perform her part as Mia in ‘The Princess Diaries’. She held her script in her hand, which Jeongyeon looked at disapprovingly. She heard Sana mutter a comment and giggle. Nayeon threw daggers in her direction.   
Nayeon started to go through her scene with the boy acting opposite her.  
She kept on hearing insufferable giggles coming from Sana’s seat. They were often followed by comments which she said just loud enough for Nayeon to hear.  
Eventually, Nayeon got fed up and turned to the audience.  
“Got something you want to share?”  
Jeongyeon groaned.  
“I was just wondering how convincing you are going to be as post makeover Mia when you look more like pre-makeover Mia. With the whole frizzy haired nerd vibe you have going on,” Sana remarked.  
Nayeon bristled and turned to Jeongyeon who sighed and shrugged, making them continue.  
When she walked off stage, Sana brushed past the nerdy girl, making sure to shove her gently as she walked past.  
Two could play at that game.  
Throughout Sana’s turn rehearsing, Nayeon made comments to Momo who was stood beside her about Sana’s acting ability, her voice, her mistakes and anything she could think of.  
Sana stormed off stage once she finished the scene. Nayeon smiled to herself smugly.

Things continued to go south as the rehearsal continued.  
Mina and Chaeyoung were on stage practicing Jeongyeon’s original piece.  
Chaeyoung flicked her newly dyed hair over her shoulder and delivered her line with conviction.  
“I just think you deserve better than him. That’s all.”  
“You say that about all the boys that show interest in me, Hana. Why can’t you just be happy for me?”  
“I am happy for you,”  
“Then why don’t you act like it?”  
“I am! I promise. I just don’t want to see you get hurt, that’s all,”  
“I’ll be fine. Just let me make my own mistakes, please Hana.”  
“But what if you aren’t fine? What if he really hurts you? Seeing you hurt would break my heart!”  
“Why do you care so much?”  
“Because I’m in love with you!” Chaeyoung shouted, tears streamed down her face as she turned to Mina. “I’m so in love with you it fucking hurts. Every time I see a boy flirting with you, it hurts. It hurts even more to see you flirt back. They don’t deserve someone as amazing and perfect and thoughtful and kind as you. I don’t deserve you either, but at least I know that I won’t hurt you. So you ask me why I care? Well, now you know.”  
“Chaeyoung, I- “  
“CUT” Jeongyeon shouted, interrupting Mina’s line.   
Mina blushed visibly while her acting partner turned away awkwardly, not really knowing how to handle the situation.   
“The character’s name is Hanna. Not Chaeyoung. Hanna. Got it?” Jeongyeon asked, clearly losing her temper.  
“I, yes. I’m sorry. Chaeyoung was so convincing that I forgot for a moment,” Mina said shyly.   
The girl in question made a funny choking sound.

After Mina’s name mishap, the rehearsal continued onto the La la land performance.  
They started out great, but then Tzuyu made a few mistakes in the dance.   
The music started up again, and Tzuyu made the same mistakes, and more.  
After a third and fourth go at the dance, the tall girl stopped and groaned.  
“I can’t pick it up!”   
Momo rubbed her arm in support. Jeongyeon rubbed her forehead in frustration.

Once all of the numbers had been performed, Jeongyeon made the group gather in a circle in front of her.   
Nayeon was admittedly a bit afraid of the expression on her friend’s face.  
“Well, people,” Jeongyeon started, “That was the most tragic rehearsal I have ever had the displeasure of having to sit through. Ever. And I was there when a girl broke her nose in the middle of a rehearsal once. This mess was worse than a broken nose.”  
Nayeon looked down to avoid eye contact.  
“Between Sana and Nayeon bitching about each other the whole way through the rehearsal, Mina fucking up her lines and Tzuyu being unable to do the dance, this rehearsal was an absolute mess. We only have a month till the performance and most of you aren’t even fully off-script yet. I didn’t want to do this, but it looks like we’ll have to start lunch time rehearsals next week. And we still have a number missing. Get your act together people, learn your lines and next time, leave your baggage at the door,” Jeongyeon raised her voice. Once she finished, she sat down and put her head in her hands.  
“I’ll help Tzuyu learn the choreo in my free time, if that helps,” Momo offered.   
The short haired girl nodded, looking absolutely exhausted.   
“Thanks, Momo,” she said quietly. Then she gestured to the group, allowing them leave.

As Nayeon had nearly exited the room, Jeongyeon spoke up.  
“Not you, Nayeon, I want a word.”  
The brunette slid over to the tall girl sheepishly.  
“If this is about, Sana, I’m sorry. With the meeting today, and her making comments about me while I was acting, I just couldn’t help but be a petty bitch. It won’t happen again,” Nayeon apologised.  
“Good, but that’s not why I called you over,” Jeongyeon said. Confused, Nayeon stared at her blankly.  
“I know you can sing. You sang all the time as a kid and I can hear you sing in the gym showers, which is kind of embarrassing by the way. And I know you know Miss Saigon.”  
“You’re point?” Nayeon asked.  
“I need you to sing as part of the duet. And I’m not asking, I’m telling,” Jeongyeon said.  
“But- “  
“I don’t care about what you have to say. You’re singing the girl’s part in Sun and Moon and that’s final,”  
“Will you at least tell me who my duet partner is?”  
“Oh, I haven’t got that sorted yet. But I’ll let you know,” the short haired girl replied, rubbing her head.  
Nayeon got up to leave, feeling quite frustrated.  
“One more thing,” Jeongyeon said, “Sana was right about one thing. You look too nerdy to be post-makeover Mia. We need to give you a makeover.”  
“Can’t I just wear a wig or something?”  
“No. You need to get used to wearing makeup and you’ll have to get used to contacts as well, you can’t go out in your specs. I’ll book you in for a hair appointment this weekend.”  
“So soon?”  
“Why not?” Jeongyeon grinned devilishly.  
Well, why not?


	12. Chapter 12

Nayeon made her way down the corridor. She walked with confident, bouncy strides and a smile on her face. She tucked a lock of her once frizzy, now smooth and straight, hair behind her ear. Gone were her glasses. Her uniform, once a bit big and wrinkled, fit her slender body perfectly.   
Her best friend Momo gaped at her with and open mouth and waved awkwardly. Nayeon wiggled her fingers back.  
The three girls who were previously giggling stopped.  
Nayeon no longer felt the need to rush to her locker to avoid them.   
That was partially because she could actually consider herself friends with two of them, but also because the makeover had really done a number of her self-confidence.

After striding down the corridor in what felt like slow motion, Nayeon reached her locker, wacked in the combination and opened the door.  
“Wow, you look hot!” Momo commented from the other side of the locker door.  
“I was always hot, it was just hidden beneath my glasses and clothes that my mother swore I’d grow into,” the brunette said nonchalantly.   
Nayeon looked down at her new uniform appreciatively. She still had the same blazer that was a bit big for her, but her shirt and skirt came from Jeongyeon, who had sold the older girl her old uniform which she grew out of a while ago.  
‘Not bad for hand-me-down,’ Nayeon thought as she pulled books from her locker.  
“Are they still looking at me?” the brunette asked shyly.  
Momo chuckled.  
“Yeah. Mina lowkey looks like she’s going to have an aneurism. Jihyo looks like she just saw the cutest puppy,” the nerdy girl whispered, her voice full of laughter.  
“And… erm… Sana?”   
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but I think she kinda looks a bit turned on,” her friend muttered lowly.  
Nayeon closed her locker and looked over to the three girls as if she was looking for someone.   
Momo was right, Sana’s eyes raked up and down Nayeon’s body, a slight smirk upon Sana’s lips. The two girls made eye contact.  
Laughing to herself, Nayeon couldn’t help but wink.  
She wasn’t great at winking, but this wink did the trick.  
Sana frowned and, blushing, bid her friends good-bye as she hurried off.

Music poured out of the music practice room which Dahyun was sitting in. Her fingers danced over the keys in whatever order they pleased.   
She was improvising again.  
Dahyun heard the click of a door opening.  
The person entered and brushed past the blonde girl. They leaned onto the back of the piano.   
Dahyun lifted her gaze and smiled softly at Mina, who was watching the pianist intensely. Her expression was unreadable.  
After a few minutes, her improvised piece came to an end with a little trill.  
Her audience of one clapped. Dahyun bowed her head.  
“Is Chaeyoung not with you today?” Mina asked gently, “I expected to see her sat in the corner with her sketchpad.”  
The blonde shook her head as she stretched out her fingers.  
“Nah, it’s Wednesday lunchtime. Chaeyoung has art club on a Wednesday lunch and Tzuyu has athletics so school meal club is just me today,” Dahyun saluted to herself.  
Mina chuckled at the awkward salute.   
“Do you come here every Wednesday lunch?” she asked.  
Dahyun nodded.  
“Can I just listen today?” the Japanese girl asked shyly. “I usually have student council stuff to do at lunch, but I’m miraculously free today.”  
“I’ll play whatever you want,” Dahyun promised.  
This wasn’t the first time that they had been in the music practice room alone together.  
Since the first time the two of them and Chaeyoung had got together in the music room, they had done it a few times more, at least once a week after school. Dahyun played piano, Mina danced and Chaeyoung scribbled in her sketchbook. Not necessarily simultaneously, there had been times where Mina sat, resting her head on Chaeyoung’s shoulder, and listened to the pianist. And there had been times where Mina would show the other two girls snippets of what she was working on for dance club or in ballet class.

The pianist finished yet another song. The pretty girl who was leant on the piano slowly opened her eyes. She smiled a genuine smile that Dahyun would never tire of.  
“Can you play?” she asked and gestured to the piano.  
The Japanese girl shook her head. Dahyun stood up so the dancer could take her place on the stool. She showed the girl a few chords. The girl chuckled.  
Feeling brave, Dahyun placed her hands over Mina’s so her fingers lay on top of Mina’s very elegant fingers.   
She pressed on her fingers and guided them about the keys, allowing an easy, but fun, tune to burst out of the piano.   
Dahyun hadn’t noticed how she’d leant closer to the keys as she played with Mina’s fingers, how she’d leant much closer to the other girl’s face. The song finished.  
With a triumphant smile, Mina whipped her head around to look at the blonde.  
Their eyes locked. Dahyun finally noticed how lose they were. Their fingers locked together.   
She could count the moles on Mina’s face.   
She started with the ones on her cheeks and moved in closer to her lips.  
Was it just her? Or was Mina’s face getting closer?  
A noise from outside, probably a janitor, startled the two girls apart.  
Dahyun took a step back from the piano. Her cheeks felt like they were burning with the strength all the fires of hell.   
What would Chaeyoung have thought?  
Unsurprisingly, even the thought of her name made Dahyun’s heart flutter.  
She was screwed.  
“Dahyunnie, please will you play for me in the showcase? I’m doing a ballet piece and I’d like you to do the music. If that’s okay,” Mina asked, still avoiding eye contact.  
“Okay, unnie,” Dahyun said.  
She was so screwed.

So excited that Dahyun had agreed to play for her (how could she not), Mina dragged the other girl to the school’s dance studio so she could show her the dance properly.  
How the school could actually afford a proper dance studio with mirrors and everything, Dahyun would never know. She supposed the previous Principal was quite keen on getting students involved in the arts. It was a shame he didn’t give a shit about the corruption and the bullying.   
Still in her uniform, Mina took off her shoes and took up her position. Dahyun sat at the keyboard (because of course the dance studio had a keyboard in it) and waited for Mina’s cue. She knew what the piece was for the dancer had marked through the routine in front of her and Chaeyoung before. Chaeyoung had let Dahyun see the picture she drew of Mina in her ending position. Chaeyoung was so talented, Dahyun thought with a sigh.  
Having received the dancer’s cue, Dahyun began to play.  
And Mina began to dance.  
And Dahyun was completely entranced.  
She really was completely and utterly screwed.  
If Tzuyu were there, she would shake her head and sigh, totally bemused by her friend’s tragic love life.  
Dahyun stopped playing when Mina hit her finishing position. It was exactly like the one Chaeyoung had drawn.  
The dancer approached the pianist with a heaving chest and a gummy smile.  
“I feel better dancing when you play for me,” she admitted.  
“I like having someone to play for,” Dahyun responded, still astounded by the other girl’s beauty and elegance.   
Once she caught her breathe, Mina looked up at Dahyun from underneath her eyelashes.  
Dahyun’s breath hitched.  
“Do you think?” she began to ask, “Would it be okay? I mean, erm.”  
“Spit it out,” Dahyun joked, “I know you bite but I don’t!”  
“I’d like to join the lgbt society.”

Nayeon ran (and by ran, I mean walked very fast because despite her new look, she was still not the type of girl to get detention) down the hallway towards one of the music practice rooms. She was very late to a rehearsal with Jeongyeon. It wasn’t her fault that she had to speak to her teacher after English class. Okay, it kind of was. She got a bit carried away asking questions about the play they were studying. At this rate, they would only have fifteen minutes of rehearsal time.  
When she finally reached the corridor with the music practice rooms, she was greeted by the sound of a jaunty piano tune.   
One of the music rooms must have been occupied.  
Nayeon wandered down the hallway, peeking into the window of each room to try to find Jeongyeon.  
The piano music stopped.  
She thought she spotted Jeongyeon through the window of one of the rooms.   
Suddenly, Nayeon tripped up on a wet floor sign and landed on the floor with a loud thud and a squeal. 

Embarrased, the brunette walked into the music practice room which contained Jeongyeon and another girl.  
Nayeon was certain that she recognised the long, dark locks that cascaded down the other girl’s back. She hoped that she didn’t.  
The girl turned around, flipping her hair as she turned, and it took everything in her power not to turn and walk out.  
Minatozaki Sana looked back at her with pursed lips and furrowed eyebrows. She cast her eyes downwards.  
The brunette looked towards her friends and mouthed “What the fuck?” at her.  
“You’re late, Nayeon,” Jeongyeon said.  
The brunette mumbled her apology and sat down as far away from Sana as she could.  
She was handed the sheet music for the song.  
“Nayeon, you’re singing the female part so you begin. Sana, you come in on the second verse,” Jeongyeon announced commandingly.  
She got out her saxophone and played the introduction.  
Nayeon sang along awkwardly, thankful that she already knew the duet.  
Sana joined in awkwardly.  
The two struggled through the harmonies having not sang together for nearly three years.  
Nayeon had forgotten how beautiful Sana’s voice was. She thought it might be too sweet and girly for her to sing the man’s part. But it worked.  
Jeongyeon made them sing the song over and over until it was very nearly the end of lunch, when she dismissed them, telling the girls to learn the song so that they could block it at theatre club.  
As soon as Sana walked out of the room, Nayeon dramatically flipped her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms. Jeongyeon ignored her and dismantled her little sax.  
“Really, Jeongyeon?” the older girl spoke, “Out of all people, you just had to get fucking Sana to play opposite me. Really?”  
“Well, at least you’ll get to kiss her,” Jeongyeon murmured nonchalantly.   
Blushing, Nayeon replied, “Nope. Not gonna happen. If I have to kiss her, then you’re gonna have to find someone else to sing my part. Besides, I’m sure that Sana would rather burn her own lips off than kiss me again.”  
The younger girl snorted. Then looked up seriously.  
“Look, Sana was the only one willing to do it who could actually sing the part. I tried to find someone else but Sana was my best bet. I’m sorry. I’m not actually gonna make you two kiss though. You might have to hug but nothing more. And she’s gonna a bit freer for rehearsals since Principal Kim put her on suspension from her vice-president role for two weeks,” Jeongyeon finished with a chuckle.  
Nayeon couldn’t help but smile smugly.  
Defeated, Nayeon gave up and left the room.

As she turned the corner into the main hallway, Nayeon was pushed into a nearby classroom.  
“What do you want, Sana?” she spat at the Japanese girl, who looked very uncomfortable and sheepish.  
“I wanted to apologise,” Sana began, “For the meeting last week. I was being rude and difficult for the sake of it. I still don’t think that the pta will get involved with anything to do with gay- I mean lgbt society. But everything else I said, I was wrong and I’m sorry for that, and everything before it.”  
Surprisingly, Nayeon thought that her apology was sincere. The girl in front of her was avoiding eye contact and rubbing her arm nervously. She looked up.  
“I’m not asking to be your friend, I’m not stupid. But can we at least be civil for the sake of the showcase? But everything behind us? No more petty fights? I’ve really come to love that dumb showcase and I think it has the potential to be amazing. You can really sing, Nayeon, and I don’t want our duet to be obviously awkward,” Sana finished. She looked at Nayeon expectantly.  
The older girl stared back and raised her eyebrow.  
“I can forgive you for the meeting, I’ll accept your apology for that. But I’ll never forget what you did to me and I don’t expect me to ever forgive you. I always try to be civil with you, Sana. And I’ll continue to try to be civil. Just, don’t expect anything else,” Nayeon said coldly.   
Pursing her lips, Sana nodded and let out a sigh of relief.   
Quite suddenly, she looked at Nayeon and tilted her head.  
The brunette didn’t know how to feel about the look she gave her.  
“Your hair looks really nice like that,” Sana said as she reached out to stroke Nayeon’s slick, straight hair.  
Shocked, Nayeon pulled away.  
“You don’t get to do that,” she said. She flipped her new hair over her shoulder and stalked out of the room, leaving the shaking girl behind.

Nayeon opened up the next lgbt meeting with a smile.  
“Welcome fellow queers, and straights, to lgbt society. We have two new members with us today. If we could go around and introduce ourselves to them and then our members can introduce themselves to us,” Nayeon declared cheerily.  
They went around the room, announcing their name, year group and sexual orientation as they usually did when someone new joined (which happened once in a blue moon).  
One of the new members stood up and shyly, with an awkward wave, began to introduce herself.  
“Hi. I’m Myoui Mina. I’m a junior. For those who don’t know, I’m the student council treasurer and dance team captain. I’m from Japan, in case you are wondering. And…” Mina paused and took in a deep breath, “I’m gay.”  
Beaming to herself, the dancer sat down and muttered, “It feels so much better to say it aloud.”  
Nayeon’s heart swelled with pride for the introverted Japanese girl who she had grown fond of.  
She glanced to the side to see Momo nodding to herself.  
“I knew it,” she heard the girl whisper triumphantly. Tzuyu nudged Momo playfully.   
They seemed to be sitting a bit closer than usual, Nayeon noted as she turned her attention back to the group.  
Chaeyoung had put her hand on Mina’s knee in support with a proud, beaming grin on her face. The older girl smiled back softly with a slight blush.  
The new boy stood up next.  
“I’m Huang. I’m from Beijing. I’m a first year. And I think I might be asexual,” he declared, equally as shyly as the girl before him.  
Nayeon gestured for him to continue, and he began to talk about his lack of sexual attraction and the confusion that come with it and how he wasn’t sure if he was just awkward or a broken.  
Surprisingly, Mina spoke up.  
“I think I may be able to help here,” she admitted, “There was a point where I thought I might be asexual. I tried dating boys and never felt anything with them, no sexual or romantic attraction whatsoever. So, I’d try a new boy for a bit, realise I felt nothing, and then dump them. But I didn’t feel any immediate sexual attractions to girls either. So, I get it, it’s hard to determine that you’re asexual when there aren’t any feelings there for you sort out. But you aren’t confused or broken. For me, I found out that I’m not asexual. I just have to have a connection with someone for attraction to happen. It terrified me when I first found myself wanting to kiss a girl. My sexuality is a bit of a grey area. But I get it.”  
After Mina’s speech, all Nayeon could do was gape at her.   
In fact, most of the room sat and gaped at her.   
Only Tzuyu looked unsurprised. Perhaps Mina had told her beforehand? Or maybe she was just perceptive. That girl was a mystery to Nayeon.  
The boy, Huang, looked up to Mina with grateful, shining eyes.   
“You’re so brave,” Chaeyoung blurted out, sounding like a love-sick puppy.  
The Japanese girl blushed and leant on the shorter girl, looking slightly exhausted. Chaeyoung’s newly dyed dark tresses fell onto the other girl’s shoulder.  
Nayeon saw Dahyun out of the corner of her eye look at the pair with a living embodiment of heart eyes.  
She couldn’t help but smile sadly to herself.  
It looked like she’s found someone with a love life more tragic than her own.

The meeting continued without a hitch.   
When the meeting finished, both Momo and Mina rushed out (Nayeon assumed they had dance related stuff). The rest of the group filed out after them. Tzuyu was chatting to one of her fellow sophomores. Jeongyeon pulled her phone out quickly and began to grin sappily. It seemed like she and Jihyo were getting on well, Nayeon wondered if her friend had confessed yet.  
Dahyun went and rested her chin on Chaeyoung’s shoulder. The two beamed at each other and skipped out of the room, their hands brushing close together.  
She pulled out her phone and turned it off silent mode.  
During the meeting, a message had come through on her phone. It was from an unknown number.  
‘I have the video,’ was all it read.  
A single tear dropped out of Nayeon’s eye.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready to board the angst train to feelings town peeps. 
> 
> There's a lot going on in this chapter, I think.  
> We have a lil chat between pals, a threatening text and a funny little date followed by Sana meeting one of her unnies and video screening session.
> 
> Hope you enjoy

“Tzuyu-ah! I have feelings!” Dahyun announced as she flopped down on the floor where the younger girl was sitting and dropped her head into the unsuspecting girl’s lap.  
“Lol same,” Tzuyu said as she began to stroke her friend’s hair.  
The two pals were at Tzuyu’s house one day after school. Of course, Chaeyoung had been invited but she had some artsy fartsy stuff to be getting on with. Dahyun was a little relieved. It had been a while since she and Tzuyu had been able to talk properly, just the two of them. Between Dahyun’s music room sessions with her two crushes, Tzuyu’s dance practices with Momo and life in general, the two had struggled to find time to chat without anyone interrupting.  
Dahyun looked up at her friend.  
“Do you want to go first?” the blonde asked, “I might take a while.”  
The tall girl shrugged, but remained silent.   
For what seemed like forever to Dahyun, the room was silent with Dahyun lying in her friend’s lap, looking up at her expectantly.   
“I think I might like Momo,” Tzuyu said, sounding surprisingly calm.  
In shock, the blonde sat up and gasped.   
The Taiwanese girl shrugged again.  
“We’ve been spending a lot of time together this past week or so because of the show and… I don’t know. I just think she’s really cute and pretty and I love watching her dance,” she revealed quite shyly. “It’s just a little crush, I think. I’ve had crushes like this before, usually on boys. I’ll get over it.”  
“Or you could ask her out?” Dahyun said slowly. Tzuyu’s eyes moved slowly onto her friend and her curled upwards into a shy smile.  
“Or I could ask her out,” she repeated quietly.  
Dahyun beamed proudly and gently punched her friend’s arm repeatedly.  
“Ah, look at you! My little baby bisexual all grown up! I knew you weren’t straight when you had a mini panic attack after Jeongyeon kissed you. I’m a proud gay mother!” she squealed.   
Then, seriously, she said, “Although, I wish you had told us ealier, about your not-straightness. I hope you haven’t been panicking or anything.”  
Tzuyu smiled softly, “I don’t know why I didn’t say anything. I knew you two would be happy for me. I wasn’t sure for a while. But I like Momo so I’m okay with that.”  
“I can’t wait till you tell Chaeyoung. She’ll be a proud gay mother too! We’ll be two proud gay moms with a giant bisexual daughter!”  
Having realised what she just said, Dahyun felt her face flush.  
“Two gay moms, huh?” Tzuyu asked with a smirk.  
Dramatically, Dahyun collapsed back into Tzuyu’s lap.

“Back onto my problems,” she said with a dramatic flair. She could feel Tzuyu’s stomach shaking with laughter from her position in her lap. “Well, here goes. I like Chaeyoung. No, I love Chaeyoung. I’ve loved her for a while.”  
“You’ve loved her since she drew a picture of you as a block of tofu and yelled ‘Dubu’ at you during my freshman year. I know,” Tzuyu said.  
With a dorky smile, Dahyun cast her mind back to that moment, it was towards the start of her sophomore year, a few weeks after they started school lunch club (Dahyun mentally saluted). Chaeyoung was growing out her short hair at the time, it still looked a bit mushroom-like. She had been pinching her older friend’s cheeks, calling her tofu while Tzuyu laughed. Chaeyoung had gone back to drawing. She then revealed the cartoonish, yet oddly life-like, drawing of Dahyun’s face on a block of tofu. It was the first drawing of Chaeyoung’s that she had ever been allowed to see and she was amazed by the talent of the short girl. Childishly, Chaeyoung had pointed at the blonde (who wasn’t blonde at the time) and yelled ‘Dubu’. At that moment, Dahyun realised that Chaeyoung was the cutest mushroom ever and boy was she screwed. The nickname stuck around, and so did her feelings.  
Dahyun always fell hard and fast.  
Tzuyu continued to speak, “And you think that Chaeyoung doesn’t like you back because she likes Myoui Mina. You’ve mentioned it before.”  
Still in her friend’s lap, Dahyun sighed loudly.  
“There’s more to the story now, Tzuyu, my child,” she said seriously.  
The tall girl looked down at her expectantly.   
“Mina and I nearly kissed the other day,” she admitted, her pale cheeks beginning to turn red with embarrassment and guilt. “One minute, I was showing her how to play piano and the next our faces were super close and I wanted to kiss her. And I think she was leaning in? If it weren’t for the crash outside, we probably would have… you know. But the main thing is, I wanted to kiss Myoui Mina,”  
Tzuyu was silent.  
“And Chaeyoung?”  
“She doesn’t know that I like Mina. And she doesn’t know that I like her,” Dahyun whispered, “I still love her Tzuyu. I expected my feelings for her to go away when I started liking Mina but if anything, they’ve gotten stronger. I feel like my heart might stop everytime I see her. But I’ve seen the way she watches Mina with so much love. And you know when Mina said Chaeyoung’s name while acting in rehearsal the other day? That was real. Mina likes Chaeyoung. Chaeyoung likes Mina. I like them both. They don’t like me.”  
Tears had begun to leak out of her eyes. Tzuyu had begun to stroke her hair and make cooing noises.  
“Surely, if Mina didn’t like you then you wouldn’t have nearly kissed each other. As for Chaeyoung, sometimes she can be in her own world of art and poetry. Maybe you should take a closer look at what she draws and the words she writes,” Tzuyu said mysteriously.  
Dahyun looked up at her friend and frowned. Mulling over her words. Then she looked away again.  
“Why am I like this? Why do I like more than one girl? Am I weird or broken? Is it bad that I can’t choose between them? Is it bad that I don’t want to?” Dahyun whimpered.  
Tzuyu sighed, “It’s called polyamory, Dahyun-unnie. Look it up.”

It had been several days since she received the text, but she couldn’t help but continue to stare at it. Nayeon had ignored it for as long as she could, but she got a niggling feeling in her stomach every time she thought about that just couldn’t be ignored.  
She began to type a reply, but then deleted it.  
She felt someone look over her shoulder. Momo’s dark hair tickled her ear.   
“Are you replying to that message?” she asked, “I told you not to, Nayeon-unnie.”  
The brunette turned to face her friend and looked at her concerned face.  
“I can’t stop thinking about the message. Or the video,” she whispered.  
Momo stepped away and let her type out a new message to the unknown number. It simply said, “Who are you?”  
Almost immediately, a reply came through. Nayeon thought that it was almost as if the unknown person had been waiting for a reply.

“Did you think that your newfound popularity wouldn’t come with a price?”

The two girls stared at the text on the screen.  
Popularity?   
Nayeon had noticed that since her makeover, she had been getting more attention. The younger years respected her more, boys would stare as she walked past (that she could really do without) and teachers remembered her name (previously only her English teacher and music teacher remembered her). However, she wouldn’t consider herself popular by any stretch of the imagination. Not compared to the likes of Sana, and even Tzuyu, who seemed to get asked out every other day by various boys (but she turned every single one down).   
“We should go to the Principal,” Momo said, nodding to herself.  
The brunette shook her head.  
“Not yet,”  
Nayeon texted the rando back, asking what they wanted.  
‘I want gay club gone and things back to normal. Don’t you forget, I have the video.’  
“I really think we should go to the Principal,” Momo repeated herself.  
“Let’s leave it for now. If all they can do is send a video around of me confessing to being gay then let them. I’m prepared this time around,” Nayeon said. Momo opened her mouth to retaliate, but Nayeon cut her off. “Come on, Momo. Let’s go get lunch.”

Momo was in the dance studio, like she was every Monday evening, dancing her heart out. Her skin glistened with sweat. Her heart was pumping fast, though not uncomfortably so. To Momo, that was a sign that she could push herself further.   
She glanced up to the clock on the wall.   
Five minutes before Tzuyu would arrive at the studio for another dance practice.   
Part of Momo wanted to rest and maybe make herself more presentable. Wipe the sweat off her face, fix her hair, stick some deodorant on. The rest of her was aching to dance.  
Momo stuck with her gut.  
She was a dancer, after all.  
She gulped some water, quickly shook out and stretched her arms and legs, and then took her position centre stage.  
And Momo danced.  
While she was dancing, she caught a figure lurking at the door in corner of her eye.  
She could have stopped dancing at that point, but didn’t.  
She was a dancer, after all.  
While rolling her body, she locked eyes with the figure in the doorway and winked.   
The dance finished.  
Tzuyu clapped loudly.   
“Wow, Momo-unnie,” she said breathlessly.   
Feeling shy, Momo hunched her shoulders and put her hands behind her back. She couldn’t believe that she had just winked at Tzuyu while doing body rolls of all things.   
Tzuyu quickly put her dance shoes on. Looking a bit red (which Momo thought was odd since they hadn’t started dancing yet), she asked,  
“Is that your choreography?”  
Momo nodded wordlessly, watching the pretty girl stand up straight and walk towards her.   
“Incredible,” she said.  
The two girls stood face to face, ready to dance.  
The music started up and Momo entered back into the domain in which she was most comfortable.  
She held her hand up to the girl next to her with a grin.  
“Shall we dance?”

Halfway through the rehearsal, the two stopped for a water break.  
“I’m glad we’ve finished the choreography, unnie,” Tzuyu remarked, “But, we can still carry on practicing together, right?”  
Momo looked up in surprise. Tzuyu must have meant that she wanted to make sure that the dance was perfect. Obviously, she didn’t want to spend time with the dancer. She was just a perfectionist, that’s all.  
“Of course. I like dancing with you,” Momo blurted and walked over to give the younger girl a hug. Inwardly, she was cursing her words. And her actions.   
“You’re so sweaty,” Tzuyu breathed sounding flustered.  
Laughing, the dancer pulled away.  
However, Tzuyu’s gaze remained directed on the Japanese girl.  
“Unnie, do you want to go get coffee once we’re done?” she asked, blushing.  
Maybe she was just being nice and polite, Momo thought. Or maybe…  
“I- uh. I have more dance classes later. But we have a café on site, it’s next to reception. We could go there for a bit?” she proposed.  
Tzuyu’s face seemed to fall a little.   
“Sounds nice, unnie, I’d like that. Though maybe we can go out coffee properly a different time,” she said confidently.   
Momo nodded her head.

While Momo and Tzuyu were sat at the little table in the dance school’s café chatting about anything and everything, Momo spotted Mina walk into the reception area.  
She saw Momo and started to walk towards the table, then spotted Tzuyu.  
Momo awkwardly waved to her fellow dancer, Tzuyu turned around and did the same.  
Mina returned the awkward wave, did her Sailor Venus pose and walked off.  
When it was time for Momo to go and get ready for class, the two got up and hugged awkwardly. Momo wondered why that hug felt weird when she had hugged the tall girl earlier and felt nothing unusual, other than her usual increase in heartrate whenever the heart-stoppingly beautiful girl touched her.   
“Let’s do this again,” Tzuyu smiled softly and lightly kissed Momo’s cheek.  
“Yes. Okay. Yup. Sounds fun, excellent, great,” Momo stammered, her heart pounding.   
The younger girl chuckled and left.  
As Momo walked into the changing room, she could have sworn that she heard someone ask, “Do you think that girl is Momo-unnie’s girlfriend?”  
Like usual, Momo sat down next to Mina and smiled at her friend.  
Unlike usual, Mina returned Momo’s smile with a cheeky smirk of her own.  
“Have fun, did you?” she asked teasingly.  
Momo frowned, looking a bit dumb.  
“Yeah, I did,” she said.  
“You’ve got lipstick on your cheek,” Mina pointed out with a giggle.  
Momo swiped at her cheek with the sleeve of her hoodie, blushing madly.  
Suddenly, Mina began to laugh properly.  
“I can’t believe you had your first date with Tzuyu at the dance studio!”   
Momo sat up straight and frowned. She turned to her fellow dancer with a gaping mouth.  
“We were on a date?”

It was a surprisingly bright day, that day. Sana had just got out of basketball practice. One of the girls on her team asked if she wanted to join her and some of the other girls for milk tea, which Sana respectfully declined. She had a date with her unnie.  
Well, it wasn’t an actual date, she was just going out for tea with her. The rest of her favourite unnies had been invited, but they were all busy with university.   
Her favourite unnie, Sohyun, had decided to visit her hometown for a few days while she could. She had come for the weekend but decided to stay a few days longer, she seemed very keen to see her Sana.  
The two met at a restaurant.  
“The soju here is amazing,” Sana’s unnie had remarked when picking out the place. Sana had hummed, as if in agreement, but she knew that she probably couldn’t get away with drinking in a swanky place like that.  
After her practice, Sana had changed into a simple, white blouse and a pair of black, tapered trousers. Since she didn’t really have the time to properly style her hair to perfection, Sana had pulled her hair up into a classy ponytail and put in the nicest pair of earrings she had.  
Only the best for her unnie.  
The two girls had greeted each other with a tight hug.  
The older girl immediately ordered a bottle of soju. She poured herself a glass and then poured Sana a glass, which she looked at in distaste.   
Maybe it was the expensive, classy vibe to the restaurant, or perhaps it was the fact that Sana had rehearsals for the showcase the following day, but she really didn’t feel like drinking. She gingerly took a sip to please her unnie and tried to mask her frown. This soju was so strong she might as well have been drinking straight vodka. Her unnie took a big gulp from her glass and swallowed with ease. Sana wouldn’t have been surprised if Sohyun was used to drinking straight vodka, she was always a big partier.   
The two chatted away as if they had never been apart.  
Sana complimented the older woman’s pink hair, which made her laugh loudly, making some of the people around her look at the table in confusion.  
“So,” Sohyun started, “I heard that the new Principal started an lgbt society. Is that right?”  
Suddenly, Sana felt the herself begin to sweat a little.  
“Yes, unnie,” the Japanese girl replied.  
“And I heard that fucking Im Nayeon is the president?”   
“Yes, unnie,” Sana managed to keep her voice steady but her cheeks betrayed her.   
Thankfully, the university student was too invested in her meal at that moment to notice Sana’s blush.   
The older girl scoffed.  
“Disgusting. Has that girl learnt nothing? I bet everyone in that club has been beaten into a pulp. They would have done when I was there,”   
“The rest of the school has been fine with it, actually it. But the club keeps to itself. They even managed to get the pta involved in a fundraising event,” Sana found herself defending gay club. Even she was surprised when the words left her lips.   
“Don’t tell me you support the club?”  
“I don’t,” Sana hissed, “But they have the Principal and half the council on their side.”  
The older girl laughed sharply and finished off her glass off soju. While pouring herself another glass, she shook her head in disapproval.  
“Democracy. Pfft. Sucks, huh? At least when I was president, most of the council had been hand-picked by the previous council president. I’d hoped that tradition would continue,”  
“The girl you picked to succeed you tried to follow the tradition, but Park Jihyo beat her competition fair and square,” Sana found herself saying again.  
“Park Jihyo always annoyed me. She was so self-righteous. And way too close to that theatre nerd.”  
Uncomfortable, Sana attempted to move the conversation onwards. But her unnie was quite insistent that they would stay on the same track. The older girl’s cheeks had already turned red, showing that she was already tipsy from drinking the rocket fuel in her glass.  
“It sounds like the school has changed a lot since I left. The council has changed. Unpopular people have power. The hierarchy is blurring,” she swirled her glass, “All that work you put in to make it to the top. It must be frustrating for you, Sana.”  
The Japanese girl made a non-committal noise. At the start of the year, she would have whole-heartedly agreed with the student. Now, however, she’d seen with her own eyes the amount of good that that gay club did for the school, especially her best friends, and she’d found new friends within a club that a popular girl should never have even considered joining. She used to think high school hierarchies were natural and even good, but it’s easy to think that when you’re sat at the top. Now, she wasn’t so sure.  
“We can make it the way it was before, though,” the older girl said slyly with a smirk that had always made Sana nervous. “I kept that video, y’know. The one of Im Nayeon crying on you and trying to kiss you and crying ‘I’m a lesbian’ with that pathetic face she pulls.”  
The girl laughed like a villain.   
It was the first time that Sana had ever seen her unnie as villainous. She had always thought that Sohyun wanted to protect Sana. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe her unnie had just drank a bit much.  
A thought suddenly popped into Sana’s head. She recalled the conversation she overheard Hirai Momo having with someone at theatre club, about Nayeon’s mysterious message.  
“Were you the one who sent Im Nayeon a message about the video?” Sana blurted.  
Sohyun looked up from her glass in confusion then laughed sharply.  
“No, but that sounds hilarious,” she said, and then she frowned, “Wait, do you still care about Nayeon?”  
“What? No!” Sana said loudly, trying not to disturb the people around her.  
The older girl scoffed, “Did she get hot or something?”  
“No! I mean, yes. But, I don’t care about that girl,” the younger girl chocked.   
The older eyed her up and took another sip of her drink.  
Satisfied, she hummed and nodded.  
Thankfully for Sana, the conversation moved onto a different topic.

An hour or so later, (and in Sohyun’s case another bottle of soju later) Sana dropped her friend off at the hotel which she was staying at. Sana thought that it was odd that Sohyun was staying in a hotel in her hometown, but she didn’t want to say anything.  
Despite the high school conversation, Sana had actually had a great time with her unnie.   
Like always, she decided to ignore the side of Sohyun which she didn’t like.   
The woman in question was draped over Sana’s shoulders. When they reached the doors of the hotel, Sana helped the woman stand up properly.  
“Can you get to your room okay without me?” she asked, gazing up at her pink haired friend.  
“Come back to my room with me,” she slurred.  
“I have school tomorrow, I need to get home,”   
“I’ll make it worth your time,”  
“I need to get home,” Sana said firmly. She wished that she had taken more than just a quick swig of the soju. She hated dealing with drunk people while she was sober.   
The two girls began to say their goodbyes. They wrapped their arms around each other in a tight hug which lasted a few seconds longer than usual. Sana didn’t think anything of it, her friends had simply drank too much soju.  
When Sana pulled away, she felt two soft hands on her cheeks. The hands pulled her closer to her unnie’s face and their lips came into contact.  
Sohyun kissed the younger girl sloppily and passionately.  
Sana froze and didn’t move her lips at all.  
When her mind started working again, Sana pulled away and stared at her unnie.  
Before she could demand what the older girl was doing, Sohyun dropped her head closer again and slurred,  
“I love you, Sana,”  
The Japanese girl could only stare at her friend in shock, and a little bit of horror.   
She thought that Sohyun didn’t agree with gay people. And yet, she had just kissed Sana and drunkenly confessed to her.  
“What?” was all that Sana could say.   
Her brain was working at a hundred miles per hour.  
The drunk girl giggled.  
“I love you. I loved you since you were a pretty faced freshman who was in love with her stupid, nerdy friend. But that video made sure that she wouldn’t touch you again. Only unnie can touch you,”   
A pair of lips came hurtling towards Sana once again, but she dodged them. It wasn’t the first time a drunk person had thrown themselves at her, but it was usually boys that she had to fend off.   
The words settled in Sana’s brain.  
“Wait. You made me manipulate Nayeon into confessing to me all because you were jealous?” she said, her voice getting louder and louder.  
Once again, her unnie giggled.  
“Not just that! We had to make sure that Nayeon wouldn’t get the council role she was going for, we thought she might win. And we had to make sure we could trust you. Two birds, one stone. Or three birds in this case.”  
Raged bubbled within Sana.  
“What about the rumour about me and Nayeon?”  
“I made it up!” the older girl sang, playing with her pink locks.   
“You, you told me that if I didn’t do it then my parents would hear the rumour and think that I’m gay!” Sana exclaimed angrily.  
The older girl bit her lip and nodded. She pulled Sana towards her once again and attacked her lips whilst Sana was distracted.  
Seething, Sana pushed the older girl off her.  
“I never want to see you again, Sohyun,” she said, her voice was low and broken. “You made me break an innocent girl’s heart.” Her cheeks were wet with salty tears. “And you broke mine too.”  
Sana turned and walked away from the older girl as fast as she could. She tried to hold back her tears, but they wouldn’t stop falling from her eyes.  
When she finally reached home, she burst through the door and ran up to her room, ignoring her parents’ cries of concern.  
Only when she had closed the door did she let herself go.   
Sobs racked her body. Her vision had been blurred by tears. She let out a long whimper of despair.   
She had frequently thought about the consequences of actions and even cried over them before.   
But Sana had come out of the whole ordeal, other than her guilty conscience, unscathed.   
She was popular. She got what she wanted in school. She had close friends that she loved with all her heart. No one, especially her parents, suspected that she might not be straight.  
For the first time, the actual weight of her actions fell on her like a pile of bricks.  
Sana had ruined someone’s life. All because of a lie.  
Not for the first time, Sana cried herself to sleep.

Another lgbt meeting had come around once again.  
Dahyun sat in her usual spot in the room with her laptop open. She was absent-mindedly scrolling through the finance spreadsheets. But her mind wasn’t on money.  
Her mind was focussed on the girl who sat next to her. One of her hands rested on top of Dahyun’s thigh, the thumb drawing circles on the outside of her thigh. The other hand was busy scribbling words into a sketchpad.  
Chaeyoung looked up from her sketchpad suddenly and smiled softly at the blonde, who may or may not have been staring at her. Dahyun, blushing, smiled back.  
On Dahyun’s other side was Tzuyu, who was sat lazily scrolling through last week’s minutes.  
Almost all the freshmen and sophomore members were present, they sat chatting amongst themselves.  
The door opened, and in walked Mina and Park Jihyo.  
Dahyun watched her favourite Japanese girl enter the room and elegantly sit down with Jihyo.  
She looked up to where Dahyun was sat with wide, innocent eyes and smiled. The blonde’s mind immediately cast back to the almost kiss. She shook off the memory, trying to fight off a blush and waved to the girl, who waved back.  
Noticing Dahyun’s movement, Chaeyoung looked up from her art, smiled brightly, and put down her pen so that she could wave at Mina. Her hand remained on Dahyun’s thigh.  
Bravely, the blonde rested her hand on top of Chaeyoung’s. Their fingers entwined.  
Neither girl said a word.

Without much warning, a boy burst into the room. It was Huang, the Chinese boy from last week, Dahyun realised as she furrowed her eyebrows.   
“I have something important to show you all,” he announced, clearly panicking.  
“Can’t it wait until Nayeon-unnie and Momo-unnie arrive,” Tzuyu asked calmly.  
He paused for a moment.  
“I found a video online, it had been put on YouTube. A few people on the football team got sent links to the video. I was one of the guys who got a link,” he said hurriedly. He walked over to Dahyun’s laptop and silently asked to use it.  
With her free hand, the blonde turned the laptop around so it faced the boy.  
Mina and Jihyo shared a look.  
The room crowded around the laptop.  
Dahyun and Chaeyoung moved around the desk to get a better look.  
Unfortunately, their hands separated and Dahyun missed the contact.  
On the screen was a picture of a girl who was stood in front of a projector. She had a few cue cards in her hands. Her dark hair was wild and frizzy. Her uniform hung off her like it was clearly several sizes too big. Her face was masked by her glasses.  
Judging by the signature, rabbit-like smile, this girl was Nayeon.  
The play button was pressed.   
It started with Nayeon doing a speech about why she should be the junior public relations officer. Her opponent was visible on screen, a girl who Dahyun recognised as a girl from the same year as Nayeon with bottle blonde hair and an unsettling smirk.   
“What’s going on?” Jeongyeon demanded as she walked into the room with Momo close behind.  
The dancer took one look at the screen and scowled, standing up straight for once.  
“Turn that off,” her voice was uncharacteristically serious and devoid of fun.  
Dahyun had never seen Momo angry before. She’d seen the nerdy girl worried and upset but never angry.  
She reached over and paused the video.  
“You do realise that this is on YouTube, right?” Chaeyoung said, “Wouldn’t it be better for us to watch the video here instead of at home.”  
“Or you could not watch the video at all,” Jeongyeon butted in, clearly ignoring Jihyo’s soothing hand on her arm.  
“What video? What’s going on?” a familiar voice asked. Nayeon walked into the room and dropped her bag on a desk.  
Her face was full of fear and innocence. Dahyun felt bad for even considering watching the video. But she’d heard so much about it and seen Nayeon get bullied because of it when she was new to the school, it was hard not to be curious.  
Nayeon saw the frozen picture on the screen. Her face dropped.  
“Ah. So, the video has been released. I thought it would be,” she said quietly.  
Folding her arms, she sighed.  
“Well you might as well watch it,” she said, “It’s okay. I’ll be okay.”  
Dahyun reached over and hit the play button.   
The figures in the video sprang back to life.

It was clearly near to the end of Nayeon’s speech.  
The camera panned across the hall, showing the faces of impressed students, then focussed back on Nayeon. No, it wasn’t focussed on the girl, it was focussed on the screen behind her.  
The projector lit up, decorating the screen with the picture of a locker.  
The camera on the screen shook slightly and a girlish giggle could be heard.  
The picture moved so that inside of the gym changing rooms could be seen.  
On one of the benches, there were two girls sat side by side.   
Nayeon and Sana.  
Nayeon’s baby face was red and puffy and streaked with tears.  
Freshman Sana had badly dyed blonde hair and her cheeks were puffier with baby fat. She seemed to be wearing nude lipstick. That was a choice.  
The nerdy girl had her head resting on her friend’s shoulder and her eyes were closed.  
Sana’s eyes flicked up to stare directly at the camera for a second. She nodded her head slightly, then looked back down at the girl who was crying on her.  
The Nayeon who watching the video on the projector opened her eyes in horror and slowly backed off the stage.  
The video on the projector continued.  
“Maybe you should just say it. It might make you feel better,” the Sana in the video said. Her voice was soft and calming.  
“I can’t,” Nayeon sobbed.  
“Please. Just say it,” Sana said.  
The young, nerdy girl looked up to her friend and pulled an ugly crying face.  
“I think I’m a lesbian, Sana,” the girl said. She put her head in her hands and sobbed loudly. “Oh God, I’m a lesbian.”  
She repeated the phrase “I’m a lesbian” over and over. Sana engulfed her in a hug and made cooing noises. Her dark eyes subtly glanced up to the camera.   
After a bit, she stood up and pulled Nayeon around a corner, out of the camera’s sight.  
A faint whisper could be heard from the video on the projector.  
“Where’s she going?”  
“Keep recording and follow her.”  
The camera moved to the corner that the pair of girls had disappeared behind.  
They were facing side on to the camera, although Nayeon’s back was facing ever so slightly towards the camera. They were hugging tightly, Nayeon’s body was shaking.  
The girls pulled away from each other.  
Suddenly, the brunette girl leant forwards and gently pressed her lips against the other girl. As quick as she had leaned in, she pulled away.  
Sana’s eyes flicked towards the camera then back to the girl in front of her.  
“Nayeon…” she whispered.  
“I love you too, Sana,” the girl replied breathlessly, “I love you so much.”  
She connected their lips again in another gentle kiss.   
Sana pushed the girl off her.  
“Don’t,” she said.  
Nayeon started to cry again and apologise, giving the girl another hug.  
Snickering could be heard from the video in the projector as the camera pulled away.  
The projector turned off.   
The video zoomed in to focus on Nayeon’s horrified expression. Tears were rolling down her face.  
The hall was silent. All that could be heard was Nayeon’s gentle cries.  
Nayeon’s opponent spoke up.  
“You’re a fucking lesbian?” she laughed vindictively.   
The Nayeon in the video stood up her straight and wiped her eyes, her facial expression changed from horrified to determing.  
“You know what? Yes. I am a lesbian,” she announced, “I, Im Nayeon, am gay.”  
The hall remained silence.  
A boy’s voice shouted a slur at her.  
The room in the video erupted in laughter.  
The Nayeon in the video froze, the colour drained from her red face.  
More insults were hurled at her.  
The picture froze as Nayeon ran off the stage.  
The video had ended.

Back in real life, Nayeon felt the eyes of the room to turn to face her.  
Her face was wet with tears.  
Yet, she felt a lot calmer than she should have done.  
“Are you okay, Nayeon?” Mina asked, her voice soft, “I knew it was bad. It didn’t know it was that bad.”  
“I guess I wasn’t as ready to see it again as I thought I was,” she laughed.  
A loud sob interrupted the moment.   
Nayeon was surprised to see that it came from Tzuyu.  
“Wow, I’ve never seen you cry before,” commented Nayeon.   
The girl apologised through her tears.  
“I don’t know why you’re surprised, Tzuyu cries all the time,” Chaeyoung commented light-heartedly, though her face was white as a sheet. “I mean who hasn’t seen Tzuyu cry.”  
“I need to go,” Jihyo whispered. She quickly gave Jeongyeon a kiss on the cheek and rushed out of the room. Mina followed behind her looking like she had seen a ghost.

Elsewhere in the school, Sana left the school council office with a glum face.   
It had been two days since her ex-friend’s confession and it still clouded her mind.  
She reached her locker and opened the door.  
The picture of her unnies on the locker door caught her eye.  
She could finally see it, the way Sohyun looked at her wasn’t with pride.   
Rage boiled inside of her.  
She took the picture and ripped it down the middle, not caring that she was destroying a picture of other girls too, not just Sohyun.  
With an angry cry, she threw the picture on the ground and stamped on it like a child having a tantrum.  
Jihyo and Mina appeared from around a corner.  
The both looked pale and uncomfortable.  
Upon seeing the girls, Sana kicked the ripped photo beneath her locker and forced a smile upon her face.  
“Hey, you two! Did gay club finish early?” she asked.  
The girls reached her. She saw the disappointment in their eyes. She couldn’t let her smile falter.  
“We saw the video,” Jihyo said, her voice was low.  
“What? What video?” Sana stammered. She felt her body start to shake.  
“The video. The Imcident,” Jihyo replied.  
Sana froze.   
She took one look at the betrayed expressions on her friends’ faces and let go.  
She burst into tears and threw herself into their surprised arms.  
“It was all a lie,” she whispered between shuddering breathes.   
The Japanese girl felt arms engulf her in a hug.  
In the middle of the empty hallway, Sana allowed herself to weep for everything she had lost. Everything she had lost because of her own selfishness.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the long gap between last chapter and this one. I started back at work last week so I probably won't be able to update as often as I'd like. But I'll try to bash out chapters on my days off.  
> Anyway, this chapter took forever for me to write.   
> It started off as a cute chapter that was more of a filler but ended up being quite plotty and kinda angsty I guess.  
> Discussions of homophobia ahead and references to bullying, etc.

Momo checked her watch and leant her locker with a huff. It was almost time for school to start and she hadn’t seen Nayeon yet. It was odd, her pal was usually super punctual. But Momo didn’t want to believe that her friend wasn’t coming into school, again.  
A tall figure brushed up against the Japanese girl’s locker. Momo lifted her gaze up with a shy smile.  
“Unnie, has she come in today?” Tzuyu asked quietly.  
“Why do you care?” Momo blurted defensively. The tall girl scowled and took a subtly step away, her gaze lowered. Immediately, the older girl’s big eyes opened wide and she rested her hand on the other girl’s arm. “I didn’t mean that,” she stammered, “I just meant that you don’t seem to care about Nayeon. I kinda thought you hated her.”  
Tzuyu shook her head, “Of course I don’t hate her. She’s my unnie, I love all my unnies. I have a weird way of showing affection, that’s all. Too savage for my own good.”  
A million thoughts ran through Momo’s mind.  
If Tzuyu was savage to the people she cared about, did that mean she didn’t care about her? She very rarely had low-key mean banter with Momo.  
“You aren’t mean to me,” she said without thinking.  
Tzuyu smiled and tilted her head to one side like a confused puppy.  
She was the cutest puppy, in Momo’s humble opinion.  
“I guess not. You must be special,” she commented.  
Nervously, Momo fiddled with her glasses and quickly changed the subject.  
“Well, school is starting in a few minutes and she’s usually here a good ten minutes early, so I guess Nayeon isn’t coming in today,” she commented, trying to avoid Tzuyu’s intense gaze.  
After the video was released, Nayeon didn’t come into school the following day. Momo had expected that, but she also expected her friend to come into school on the Monday, having had the weekend to recover. Perhaps she was wrong.  
Surely she must have been aware that the video had been removed from YouTube and the school was looking into finding out who posted the video. Momo had messaged Nayeon to keep her updated, but she wasn’t even sure that her friend had read her messages.  
“Jeongyeon will be pissed. Nayeon was supposed to be rehearsing with Sana today,” the tall girl remarked.  
Well, that probably explained why Nayeon wasn’t in school.  
“We’re rehearsing again tonight, aren’t we? Before my dance class again?” Momo asked. Her crush nodded, the corners of her lips curled upwards. “I’ll drop in on Nayeon after dance finishes. If you hang around and wait for me, you can come with me, if you want.”  
The tall girl shook her head.  
“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”  
The bell rang with a piercing, shrill tone.  
There was still no sign of Nayeon.

Tzuyu had been right, Jeongyeon was pissed when she found out that Nayeon hadn’t come into school that day.  
With only a few weeks left until the showcase, Jeongyeon had entered panic mode and took her frustrations out on the people around her.  
Momo had been shouted out, she was the lucky girl who got to tell the older girl that Nayeon hadn’t come in. She was quite proud that she didn’t cry. Jeongyeon, despite being dorky and silly, could be scary when she wanted to be.  
Of course, Sana got the worst of Jeongyeon’s anger.  
Momo had watched awkwardly as the older girl berated Sana. Jeongyeon told her off for allowing that video to be filmed, for never apologising to Nayeon for what she did, for never being honest to herself. Momo was forced to watch Sana sob silently. It would have tugged on her heart strings, if she didn’t care so much about Nayeon.  
According to Tzuyu, Jeongyeon had had a go at Jihyo as well, about not using her presidential powers to get the video removed sooner. And for sticking by Sana the whole time, even after she saw the video.  
Momo could see that Jeongyeon wasn’t mad because of the showcase, she was mad because her friend was hurt, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Deep down, below Momo’s optimism and nervousness, she felt the same.  
“Are Jihyo and Jeongyeon official now? They’ve seemed more openly coupley lately,” Momo asked the girl in front of her.  
Tzuyu and herself had finished their dance practice and were waiting for Momo’s next class. Once again, they sat close together on a table in the café. Their hands brushed on the table.  
Momo had to remind herself that this wasn’t a date. No matter what Mina would say when she saw the two.  
Tzuyu shrugged, “Not sure. Jihyo hasn’t said anything. I think that officially, they’re still casual. They just don’t seem as casual.”  
“Are you sure you don’t want to come visit Nayeon with me?”  
“It’s not that I don’t want to. I care about Nayeon, but we’re not close. I think she needs her best friend, right now,” Tzuyu said, sombrely.  
Momo nodded in agreement.  
The two girls got up to finish their quick rendez-vous in the dance studio’s café. They embraced each other in a tight hug.  
Like the previous week, Tzuyu pressed a quick kiss onto Momo’s cheeks and looked down, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.  
Momo could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. A question, a doubt, ran through her mind.  
Looking at the girl opposite her, seeing her shy smile and bright eyes, made the question move from Momo’s mind and into her lips. Before she had the chance to stop it, her mouth moved.  
“Tzuyu-yah. Is this a date?”  
Alarmed, the Taiwanese girl looked directly into Momo’s eyes and tilted her head. There was the cute puppy look again that made Momo's little gay heart flutter.  
“I hope so,” she said, her voice was quite quiet and unsure.  
The Japanese girl was sure that you could boil an egg on her cheeks.  
“Oh, okay. Cool beans,”  
“Keep me updated about Nayeon?”  
“Yep. Coolio. Will do,”  
Tzuyu giggled at Momo’s bumbling.  
“I like this side of you,” she whispered so only the Japanese girl could hear.  
She kissed Momo’s cheek once more and left with a graceful hair flick.  
The older girl could only watch her go in complete and utter shock.  
“But she said that she’s straight,” Momo whispered to herself aloud  
Mina walked past and gave her a thumbs up with a small, but disturbingly cheeky, smile.  
“You really know how to treat a girl,” she commented slyly, her voice was soft and innocent like usual, completely unlike her comment.  
Momo blushed and groaned loudly. She just hoped that Mina hadn’t heard any of their conversation. She knew that she would never live “coolio” down.

Nayeon’s house was nothing special. Just a normal house in the suburbs. Momo stood outside the gate of her friend’s house with a card in her hand. It was a simple get well soon card with a little message scribbled inside that she had bought on the way to the house, just in case Nayeon wouldn’t let her in.  
Stood outside Nayeon’s door was a girl. This girl had long, black hair that cascaded over the back of her school blazer. Momo had arrived at the house five minutes ago and waited for the other girl to make a move. But she hadn’t heard the dancer approach and was simply staring at the door. Bored, Momo called out her name.  
“Sana?”  
The girl whipped her head around with wide eyes. She ducked her head as she turned to face Momo and hid something which looked suspiciously like a teddy bear behind her back.  
“Erm. Hi. I was just- erm. I was just leaving,” Sana stuttered as she made her way down the path towards the gate, avoiding eye contact.  
“Why are you here?” Momo asked.  
The other Japanese girl froze and then rubbed the back of her neck.  
“I- um. It doesn’t matter. I- um- wanted to see if she’s okay. But you’re here now so...” Sana trailed off awkwardly.  
“Do you want me to give her the bear?” Momo asked coldly.  
“Please,” the girl replied, sounding a little relieved, and handed over the teddy.  
It was sweet little thing, light brown with black eyes. It held a little pink heart in it’s fluffy paws that said ‘I’m sorry’ on it. Momo stared at it in disbelief. She knew that Nayeon wouldn’t be so easily won over.  
“I know it doesn’t change anything,” Sana mumbled, “But it’s a start. I just hope she can forgive me enough to come back into school.”  
“For her sake or yours?” Momo spat, “Not used to being the bad guy, are you?”  
Sana let out a short, harsh laugh.  
“I was always the bad guy,”  
And with that, she pushed past the nerdy girl and sauntered off. 

Nayeon had answered the door seconds after Momo had knocked.  
“Has she gone?” she asked when she opened the door.  
Momo thought she looked terrible.  
The poor girl looked like she hadn’t slept for days. Her skin was pale and her eyes were dull with dark bags underneath. She had her glasses on and her hair was messy and curly. She wore a pair of pajamas with squirtles on them. The squirtle on her chest said,  
“Never give up!”  
Momo had always thought that the squirtle pajamas were weird. If the squirtle was going to say anything it would be it’s own name.  
The pajamas were marked with what looked like chocolate stains.  
“Yeah,” Momo replied, “She left this bear with me. Can I come in?”  
The Japanese girl handed over the bear, which Nayeon scowled at. But she pulled it into her chest as she opened the door fully for her friend.  
The two girls settled on the comfortable, black leather couch in the living room.  
Nayeon’s mother made the two some tea. She handed over Momo’s cup with a grateful smile and rubbed her daughter’s shoulder as she left the room, giving the two some privacy.  
There were pillows and blankets spread all over the room.  
“Have you set up shop in here?” Momo asked brightly, trying to quell the tension.  
Her friend grunted in reply, still holding the ‘I’m sorry’ bear.  
A dog barked.  
“People have been asking after you. Literally every member of our society asked if you were okay,” Momo began.  
Her friend looked up, but remained quiet.  
“I thought Huang was going to cry. He said he was considering quitting the football team after the video got out,” the nerdy girl continued. Nayeon frowned at her words and sipped her tea. Momo cleared her throat. “He, um, accidentally outed himself while defending you. But the team was apparently really supportive so he decided against quitting.”  
“I knew there’d be a backlash against me,” Nayeon muttered into her cup.  
Surprised at her rough, gravelly voice, Momo choked a little on her tea.  
“Actually,” she said, “it’s Sana who’s worse off this time. Obviously there are some homophobic assholes but most of the years below us feel bad for you. They all know that Sana knew it was being filmed, they’d heard the rumours.”  
“What?”  
“Yeah. Like, the backlash on her isn’t the same as it was on you. Just people calling her a bitch behind her back,”  
“Well that’s nothing new really, is it?” Nayeon muttered.  
“I suppose not,”  
The room fell into silence again, which Momo felt compelled to break.  
“We’re all worries about you, you know. Jeongyeon lost it when she heard you didn’t come in yesterday. She yelled at literally everyone. She even made Sana cry,” Momo placed a hand on her friend’s knee.  
Nayeon looked up with a deep frown etched on her pretty face.  
“She cried?” she whispered in disbelief, “Sana actually cried?”  
Momo nodded eagerly.  
“Nayeon, she was full-on ugly crying,” the Japanese girl confirmed, she couldn’t help but grin as she said it. Her friend chuckled and shook her head.  
“Is it bad that hearing that Sana cried kind of makes me happy?” she asked, looking away from Momo again.  
“Nah,” the dancer replied, “She put you through hell. I think it’s natural.”  
Nayeon looked up and screwed her face up bizarrely, “Still, I don’t want revenge on her. I don’t want people to hate her. I just want people to accept me and leave me to do my own thing.”  
“They accept you now, Nayeon. Someone told me that seeing your video inspired her to confess to a girl and now they’re dating!” Momo exclaimed excitedly.  
“Why didn’t you open with that, you doofus?” Nayeon screeched, dripping tea onto her weird squirtle pajames, “Who was it? Do I know them?”  
“She’s in our year, Kang Seulgi? She’s on Mina’s dance team. Obviously, this was the second time she saw it, but she said that seeing your bravery and the way you carried on after the incident inspired her. Her girlfriend, Joohyun I think she said, left school ages ago,” Momo said conversationally.   
If Momo was correct, she remembered Joohyun as a teeny tiny dot of a girl, shorter even than Chaeyoung, who was very reserved and kind of scary. If it was the same girl she was thinking of, Bae Joohyun was one of the only people who was on Nayeon’s side, who refused to pick on her and even defended her a couple of times. Well, now they knew why.  
A lazy smile spread on Nayeon’s face. She leant back against the sofa and hummed softly. She took the ‘I’m sorry’ bear into her hands and stroked the top of its head.  
“You know, Momo. I think I’m gonna be okay. I can face it now. I can face her now. I was so afraid that everyone would return to hating me and that our society would be shut down and all those lgbt people in our school would return to feeling lost and alone like we used to do,” Nayeon revealed.  
“You’ll never be alone, Nayeon,” her friend assured, “Not while I’m around.”  
Nayeon smiled gratefully and wiped away a tear.  
“It’s almost a shame I don’t fancy you, Momo. You’ll make a great girlfriend. Tzuyu’s a lucky girl,” she said teasingly. She sighed. “You’re just not my type. Like, at all.”  
Momo felt herself blush.  
“Oh yeah? Well we all know what your type is.”  
It was Nayeon’s turn to blush.  
All awkwardness dissipated from the room when the girls burst into laughter which echoed around the room, spreading joy and life into each and every corner.

Nayeon felt the most nervous that she had ever felt in a long time, walking down that corridor towards her locker. She was aware of the pairs of eyes that followed her steps. She was very aware of the whispers that filled the parts of the corridor that she walked down.  
She felt three very distinct pairs of eyes follow her down the hallway. Their giggles had ceased. Nayeon never knew that she could miss the sound of giggles. Unconsciously, she began to play with a strand of her straightened brown hair.  
After what felt like an eternity, Nayeon reached her locker and hid her head behind the door.  
She stared inside of the locker in shock, but not dismay.  
There were no letters inside her locker, no harsh words or threats hidden inside. No one had spray painted slurs onto the outside, her stickers were safe. There was a card inside the locker. Nayeon half expected it to contain a love confession from an anonymous girl who would leave her number and arrange to meet with Nayeon, only for the nerdy girl to find out that her secret admirer was a jock who would beat her into a pulp and threaten to rape her if she told anyone. Because that never happened. That definitely was not a thing that happened and she definitely didn’t still have nightmares about the boy’s leering eyes staring at her and meaty hands slamming her inside of her locker.  
Instead, the card contained ‘We’re hope you’re okay and we’re sorry for watching the video’ messages from the members of her lgbt society. Even Jihyo had signed it.  
Speaking of the president, Nayeon felt a tap on her shoulder.  
She turned to face the girl and looked into her large, concerned eyes.  
“Can we have a word, Nayeon?” 

It wasn’t long before Nayeon found herself in the school council office with Jihyo, Mina and her favourite person in the whole world.  
In the way that they were sat, with Nayeon sat on the chair in front of the desk that Jihyo sat behind while Mina perched on the corner of the desk and Sana leant nonchalantly against the wall, Nayeon felt like a rabbit cornered by foxes. She was just waiting for them to pounce.  
“I’m sure you’re wondering why we brought you here,” Jihyo began officially, she held a couple of pieces of paper in her hands. Nayeon nodded, feeling quite stupid. “We just want to discuss the video and whatnot with you. Don’t worry, nothing bad,” she said with a comforting smile.  
The girl on the chair shrank into herself and looked up at each of the other girls. Jihyo and Mina had kind, comforting expressions on their face while Sana stared at the floor. Was it shame or boredom that marred her pretty face? Nayeon fought back a scowl. She really shouldn’t think of Sana as pretty. But she had eyes.  
Jihyo continued to speak. She told Nayeon how the Principle had gotten involved. The video had been deleted from YouTube. They were currently trying to found out who posted the video. Anyone found with the video, watching it or otherwise, was punished harshly. Already, people had given up trying to find the video in order to watch it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t about. And the damage had been done, pretty much everyone in the school had watched Nayeon watch herself confess to Sana.   
“But this time around, if anyone tries to mess with you, they’ll have me to deal with. I won’t let anyone hurt you, Nayeon,” Jihyo finished with a sincere promise.   
Mina voiced her agreement, and even Sana made a grumbling noise which the brunette chose to believe was the sound of agreement.  
Without even letting Nayeon speak, Jihyo wrote out a hall pass for the brunette and gave it to her, allowing her to be excused for being late to class if she needed a moment to collect herself. She quickly hurried out to avoid being late herself without waiting for Nayeon’s thanks.   
Mina soon followed, saying that Dahyun would be mad if she was late to the class that they shared. Sana said something in Japanese which made the dancer turn red and slap her friend’s arm as she left.  
That left Nayeon alone in a small room with Sana.

Quickly, she stood up and began to rush for the door.  
A hand on her wrist stopped her.  
“Nayeon, wait,” Sana cried, “I have something to tell you.”  
Flicking her brown locks over her shoulder, Nayeon quickly turned to face the other girl.  
“What could you possibly want to say to me, Sana?” Nayeon spat with all the hatred she could muster.  
The girl stared at her blankly and blinked several times. The brunette raised her eyebrow impatiently.  
“Did you get my bear?” she finally asked.   
Nayeon scoffed, “Is that supposed to be an apology?”  
Looking directly into Nayeon’s eyes, the other girl seemed to blush a little. She frowned.  
“I- maybe? I know that a teddy bear isn’t going to fix what happened between us, but I really am sorry, Nayeon. I was so cruel to you. I should have never let them film us, I should have never agreed to it. I manipulated you and you didn’t deserve it. I broke your heart and I’m so sorry,” Sana said quickly. Her face was wet. Nayeon’s face was wet too.  
“You did more than just break my heart, Sana. You can’t even begin to comprehend what you did to me. My parents nearly kicked me out, they treated me like dirt for weeks. My previous friends turned their backs on me. Only Momo was there. I was so alone. And it was hell. I woke up every morning afraid to go to school. I lived in constant fear that someone would beat me, that they would follow through their threats. Every day for a month, someone left death threats in my locker. My ribs were broken five times. Sometimes I was afraid to go to sleep, not just because of the nightmares, but because I was afraid that I wouldn’t ever wake up. And that was just the physical effects. You broke me, Sana. You didn’t just break my heart, you broke me.”  
Nayeon finished her speech with a gasping breath. She stared at the weeping girl in front of her. “And I never knew why.”  
The Japanese girl took a deep, controlled breath and wiped her face with her free hand.  
Nayeon became suddenly aware of her other hand, which was still wrapped around Nayeon’s wrist. She feebly attempted to pull her wrist out of Sana’s grasp but the other girl’s grip only tightened.  
“I was afraid,” Sana admitted quietly, “I did it because I’m a coward.”  
Nayeon scoffed.  
“I was told that there was a rumour. There was a rumour that I, Minatozaki Sana, was a lesbian and in love with the nerdy girl, Im Nayeon. I was told that the rumour had spread to some of the parents. That it wouldn’t be long before the story got to my parents. And I was afraid that they would find out,” she whimpered. “Do you know what they said when they heard about the video? They said that you deserved everything that you got. They said that they would rather have no daughter than a gay daughter.”  
Sana finally released Nayeon’s wrist, which she pulled close to her body.   
With a heavy sigh, Sana spoke again, “I understand if you never forgive me. I wouldn’t forgive me. But you must know, if I had the chance to do it over again, I would never have agreed to the video.”  
“You told me you loved me,” Nayeon whispered. She didn’t know why, but she felt her body drift closer to Sana’s. The girl looked at Nayeon with shock etched into her features.  
“I didn’t mean it like that, Nayeon. I’m sorry,” she replied, her voice was suddenly sharp and fearful, taking a step back from Nayeon.  
Fed up and annoyed, Nayeon fired back, “You kissed me first.”  
“It didn’t mean anything. I was just practicing,” Sana said defensively.  
The brunette knew that she should have felt put out and down at Sana’s words. Instead they just fired her up.  
“You weren’t. You weren’t just afraid of your parents, you were afraid of your feelings,” Nayeon said accusingly. She jabbed her finger into the other's chest.  
Sana’s eyes darted downwards then back up to the nerdy girl’s eyes.  
“I didn’t have feelings for you. I was just afraid of my parents,” she blurted, her cheeks beginning to redden.  
“You still won’t admit it,” Nayeon scoffed, enjoying seeing Sana squirm in front of her. Perhaps she had pushed her too far.  
“Won’t admit what?” Sana spat. She puffed her chest up and stood closer to Nayeon, attempting to tower over her.   
In the past, the brunette would have cowered away but she felt brave today. Instead, she matched Sana’s gaze with her own intense stare and ignored the pounding in her heart.  
“I’m not like you, Nayeon,” Sana said, her voice low and menacing.  
“Oh yeah?” Nayeon replied, purposefully teasing and winding up the other girl.  
The room was silent.  
All Nayeon could hear was a pounding in her ears and the sound of Sana’s rushed breaths.  
The other girl was so close that she could feel her warm breath against her cheek.   
She could have moved her head away, avoided Sana’s dark eyes that were no longer focussed on her own. She could have taken a step back and removed the feeling of Sana’s chest brushing against her own chest as they moved outwards in perfect synchronisation, as if their chests were reaching out for each other. She could have pretended not to notice the other girl’s erratic breathing and flushed cheeks and hooded eyes, and ignored the pressure in her lower belly as she did so.  
But just this once, Nayeon refused to be the one to back down. Just this once, Sana could be the one to step back and hang her head in shame. Nayeon was done being ashamed.  
And then, as quick as a snake striking its prey, Sana moved.   
But she didn’t move backwards, as the brunette expected. Instead she darted forwards.  
Her lips crashed into Nayeon’s. Her hands made their way onto Nayeon’s waist, holding her in place.  
Nayeon froze. She felt like her brain had suddenly stopped functioning. All she could focus on was the feeling of soft lips rubbing against her own.  
And then she did the unthinkable.  
She kissed back.   
Nayeon grabbed the lapels of Sana’s blazer and pulled the other girl close against her.  
She revelled in the feeling of the girl’s chest pressed up against her own. She smirked at the noise the other girl made, halfway between a gasp and a moan. Sana’s hands snaked around her back and grasped a tight hold of Nayeon’s shirt. She found herself suppressing a moan of her own.  
Nayeon felt Sana’s tongue swipe at her bottom lip and she opened her mouth submissively. Their kiss deepened further.  
At some point, they had moved backwards towards the desk and Sana was pressed up against it.  
Mindlessly, passionately, Nayeon continued to kiss Sana.  
A part of her knew that this really shouldn’t be happening. But she was so focussed on how good it felt to feel Sana’s lips against her own, her tongue fighting for dominance, her body arching into Nayeon’s, that she simply didn’t care whether this was right.   
Sana’s lips pulled away from Nayeon’s and instead nipped at her exposed neck. Nayeon jumped back with a yelp of surprise.  
Seeing Sana’s shocked expression, complete with red cheeks, swollen lips and blown pupils, seemed to shock Nayeon out of her Sana-induced stupor.  
Angrily, she whipped her hand out across the Japanese girl’s cheek.  
Looking horrified, Sana lifted her hand up. Nayeon expected her to touch her bruising cheek, but her fingers rested on her swollen lips instead.   
She wasn’t even sure why herself, but Nayeon found herself starting to laugh.  
“You always did kiss me first,” she remarked darkly.  
Sana blinked at her, her eyes started to glisten. Her fingers remained on her lips.  
Afraid of what she might say, or do, next, Nayeon rushed out of the office as quickly as she could.   
A sudden thought popped into Nayeon’s head that made her want to cry or scream or laugh or... something.  
It had been nearly three years since they had last kissed, yet Sana still tasted the same.  
All Nayeon could taste vanilla.   
Vanilla.  
Vanilla.  
Sana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. That happened. Soz lads.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to call this chapter 'everything goes down shit creek ft. one happy moment' so yeah,,, sorry I guess.
> 
> Hopefully you all enjoy it regardless. 
> 
> Feel free to leave any comments, praise and constructive criticism are both welcomed. Seriously though, your comments really mean a lot to me so thanks to all of you who have left comments. And thanks to those who left kudos too.

It was fair to say that Sana had never danced worse than how she was currently dancing. The music was playing, but it seemed fuzzy in her ears. She kept on missing her cues and getting her timings wrong. Every time they ran through the dance, she made a different mistake. A wrong arm, a wrong foot placement, a section forgotten. It was like her spatial awareness had gone out of the window and she kept on tripping over her own feet, even when walking into a formation. Speaking of formations, she always seemed to be a few inches out of place, blocking the people behind her or getting in their way.  
While her body may have been in the dance studio, her mind was somewhere else entirely.   
In fact, her mind was in the student council office.   
The taste of Nayeon still lingered on her lips.  
Sana had chosen a spicy lunch that day, even borrowed someone’s hot sauce, in the hope that the heat would burn off the flavour of Nayeon’s lips and tongue. But it failed. She had spent the rest of the day with bad breath and a sweet taste on her lips.  
All she could focus on was that kiss. The feeling of Nayeon kissing her back.  
Her words echoed inside of Sana’s head, blocking out the music.  
“You broke me, Sana.” “You were afraid of your feelings.” “You still won’t admit it.”  
“You always did kiss me first.”  
The low, husky voice and dark laughter that followed it echoed around her head.  
Sana was lost.   
She didn’t like Nayeon. She wasn’t attracted to Nayeon. She wasn’t interested in Nayeon.   
So why was Nayeon all she could think about?

When Sana bumped into Seulgi for the fifth time in the last five minutes, Mina stopped the music.  
Sana dragged herself off the floor, her cheeks flaming red with embarrassment.  
“You know what girls?” Mina said commandingly, “We’ve got five minutes left. Let’s call it day before Sana breaks Seulgi’s collarbone with her head.”  
The small group grumbled in agreement and put their stuff together.  
As the other girls were packing away and talking amongst themselves while cooling down, Sana found herself being confronted by Mina.  
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked, “I’ve never seen you dance so badly.”  
Sana rubbed the spot on her head where she had last bumped it into her teammate.   
“I guess I’ve just been distracted,” she said.  
Her Japanese friend sighed and whispered in their native language,  
“Is this about Nayeon?” she asked.   
Sana felt the heat rise in her cheeks.  
She glanced at the other girls in the room, pretty much all of them were distracted.  
“Don’t tell Jihyo, but I fucked up. Like majorly. I kissed her this morning,” she grumbled in Japanese.   
Her friend pressed her fingers into her temples and let out a sharp breath.  
“Oh my God, Sana,” she whispered, “I told you. Anyway, we’ll talk about this tomorrow. I have stuff to do tonight.”  
“Dahyun or Chaeyoung?” Sana asked cheekily with a smirk, changing the topic.   
Mina blushed and slapped her arm.  
“Neither,” she replied indignantly.  
As Sana walked into the corner to get her belongings together, Kang Seulgi brushed past her and approached Mina.  
Being the nosy bitch she was, Sana strained her ears to hear what she was saying.  
Thankfully, the rest of the girls had left studio so she didn’t have strain too hard.  
“I heard that you’re a part of the lgbt society?” she heard her teammate ask. Sana suppressed a snort. As if Mina had joined gay club. Sana knew that her friend was hardly straight but she thought that Mina respected Sana too much to join Nayeon’s society.  
“Yeah. I am. Why? What’s up?” she asked.  
Sana resisted the urge to whip her head around and glare at Mina, she had to pretend that she wasn’t listening.  
“Can I join?” Seulgi requested.  
Sana heard Mina agree and tell her that she’d text her the details. Apparently, she was in a hurry.  
Sana watched her friend leave with pursed lips. Bristling, she picked up her bags and threw them over her shoulder aggressively.  
She turned to the girl in the room who had a dopey smile on her face that made her look a bit bear-like.  
“I heard about you and Bae Joohyun dating. Congratulations. I bet you’re a really cute couple,” she said sincerely, trying to keep her voice level and failing.   
Sana stormed out of the dance studio.

The next morning, Sana collared Mina while she was on the way to class and whispered in her ear,  
“I think we need to have a chat, don’t you?”  
They agreed to meet at lunch in the student council office, and of course Jihyo would be there too.  
The three girls had gathered in the small office. Jihyo took her place in the chair behind her desk and started fiddling with paperwork. Mina perched on the desk while Sana stood in front of the desk.  
She couldn’t help but glare at the spot where Nayeon had pushed her against the desk.   
All of a sudden, her mind was consumed by that memory.  
It was almost like she could still feel Nayeon’s chest pressing against hers as she unwillingly arched her back, she could feel Nayeon’s teeth lightly grazing her lower lip, she could taste her breath on her tongue.  
Mina’s voice brought her out of her stupor and reminded her why she was there. She began to boil with rage once again.  
“Jihyo, how are the melons?” Mina politely greeted the president with a mockingly formal bow.  
“Glorious, as always,” she replied, equally as formally and bowed her head in return.  
Usually the melon thing tickled Sana (it reminded her of Dahyun’s ‘gay panic’ face which was a sight to behold) but she simply wasn’t in the mood.  
“Cut the bullshit, you two!” the Japanese girl said sharply, slapping her hand on the desk. “You know why I’m here,” she glared at Mina.  
The two other girls dropped their cheeky smiles and nodded solemnly.  
“Ah, this is about Nayeon, isn’t it?” Jihyo said, her eyes remained on the paperwork in front of her.  
Sana gasped and stared at Mina accusingly.  
Jihyo spoke once again, “Can we make this quick? I actually have president stuff to do.”  
“I can’t believe you told her!” Sana exclaimed, gently slapping her friend’s arm.  
Before Mina, who was looking very offended, could respond, Jihyo spoke up again.  
“She didn’t need to,” Jihyo then looked up and reached out to put her hand on Sana’s. “Sana, babe. My little squirrel. My sweet humming bird. All you talk about nowadays is Nayeon,” she said patronisingly. Sana opened her mouth to defend herself, her cheeks beginning to flush (even though Jihyo wasn’t wrong).   
Jihyo continued, “Besides, I popped my head round the door yesterday after I’d left. I was going to grab a pen because I forgot mine but didn’t get the chance. I didn’t want to interrupt you and Nayeon while you two were going at it. On my desk.”  
“You can’t talk!” Sana retaliated, her face now completely red, “You fucked Jeongyeon in the history room!”  
“We didn’t actually fuck in there, Sana!” Jihyo withdrew her hand from Sana’s.  
Mina piped up, giggling, “I believe it was the English room that you actually fucked in.”  
The president looked up at the quiet girl and frowned.   
“Fuck off.”  
Grimacing, Sana took a step away from the desk and groaned.  
“Firstly, ew. I have classes in there. Secondly, I’m not here to talk about yesterday. I’m here to talk to you about gay club. You know, the club Mina joined behind my back?” Sana jabbed the accused girl’s arm sharply.   
Mina and Jihyo exchanged a look.  
The Korean sighed and leant her head on her hands.  
“I know, Sana. I’ve gone with her.”  
“Fucking hell, Jihyo! You joined too!” Sana screamed.   
Mina scowled and tilted her head to the side.  
“Why are you so mad? We’re allowed to join societies without your permission,” she said softly.   
At this point, Sana was already at the end of her tether. It seemed that being in a room with fresh memories that didn’t want to think about had riled her up.  
“Because you-know-who is the president of that society! You know I can’t stand her! I can kind of understand Jihyo going because Jeongyeon is there, even though I am pissed you went behind my back. But you too, Mina? Why? I thought you had more respect for me than that,” the Japanese girl exploded. Mina avoided her gaze and rubbed her arm.  
“With all due respect, Sana, I needed someone to talk to about being gay and all that and that someone isn’t you. You’re so deep in the closet that you’re having tea parties with Mr Tumnus,” she said, still refusing to look her friend in the eye.  
Jihyo laughed.  
Sana bristled.  
“That’s not true! I’m not… I don’t…” she stammered.   
“Sana-unnie, I love you. But I love that club too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. That was shitty of me,” Mina apologised. “And, I think you need to admit that this all boils down to your feelings for Nayeon.”   
Once again, Sana denied having any feelings for that girl. She hated her, right?  
“Sana. Babe. You literally stuck your tongue down her throat yesterday,” Jihyo remarked, trying to reach out to touch her friend again. “You like her. It’s time you stop denying that. And once you’ve done that, you can go and apologise to her properly and maybe admit that you never stopped loving her,” she commanded.   
Furious, Sana took another step away from the desk, out of her friend’s reach.  
“For the last time, I don’t love her anymore! I want nothing to do with her!”  
“You’re only saying that because it’s easy! It’s so much easier for you to pretend to hate her than it is to admit to yourself that you love her. Because that means that you have to face everything that you did to her and you can’t do that! You’re a coward, Sana!” Jihyo shouted.  
Mina gasped and covered her mouth.  
Sana flicked a piece of hair over her shoulder, her face was now completely red.  
“Well, I may be a coward, but at least I’m not a hypocrite!” Sana screamed.  
“Calm down, please,” Mina pleaded, “Before one of you says something you regret.”  
Jihyo stood up from her seat behind the desk slowly.  
“And what are you referring to exactly, Minatozaki?”   
Ah, the surname had come out. Sana knew that when the surnames came out, it was time to back down. Angry Jihyo was scary Jihyo. Like the hulk, but worse.  
Sana glanced over her fellow Japanese friend and flared her nostrils, trying to convey a plead for help. Mina looked between the girls.  
“I think what Sana-unnie is trying to say, is that it’s all very well and good you telling her to confess to Nayeon when you still haven’t told Jeongyeon about your ‘not casual’ feelings for her,” Mina said carefully, clearly very flustered by the situation.  
Jihyo clenched her jaw and glared at Mina.  
“Are you calling me a hypocrite too, Myoui?” she growled.   
Mina pulled back and opened her eyes wide.  
“Erm. Maybe? I mean, it is a bit, you know, hypocritical. Well, I mean, it’s different because you admit that you love Jeongyeon whereas Sana-unnie won’t admit anything. But, the thing about confessing is hypocritical,” Mina explained, stuttering as she went.  
Well, that was quite a hole she dug for herself.   
Both Sana and Jihyo turned to her, bristling.   
Suddenly, Jihyo snorted sharply.  
“Well, you can’t talk either, Myoui. You’re in love with not one, but two girls,” she said mockingly. Mina went pale. “You’re in love with two girls that are practically already dating. How do you think that will work out? If you make up your mind about which you want more, what makes you think that they will choose you over each other?”   
Mina leaped off the desk. Her eyes were glistening.   
The furious sneer dropped off the president’s face and was replaced by a look of horror.  
“Mina, I”  
“Fuck you, Park Jihyo,” the Japanese girl whispered and stormed out of the office.  
Sana watched her go and turned to Jihyo in disgust.  
“That was too far,” Sana reprimanded the younger girl.  
“I know,” Jihyo said quietly, looking pale and horrified. She then turned to Sana, suddenly looking exhausted, “But you’re not off the hook, Sana. You really need to sort this thing out with Nayeon. It’s exhausting having to listen to you go on about her. Just, admit it.”  
“I can’t,” Sana whispered, “Saying it makes it real.”  
Jihyo looked up at the older girl and sighed, “Then go on being miserable for the rest of your life because you refuse to be honest with yourself.”  
Sana remained silent and stared at the president, tears began to well up in her eyes.   
They burned.  
“Perhaps I’ll admit that I maybe don’t hate her when you tell Jeongyeon that you’re in love with her,” she chocked.  
The president looked back down at her paperwork and picked up a pen.  
“Don’t give me an ultimatum like that, Sana,” she said warningly.  
After a few moments of tense, angry silence, Jihyo raised her hand and made a flicking motion.  
“Get out of my office,” she said, sounding exhausted.  
Sana turned on her heel and quickly stalked out of the room.  
She pretended not to hear the whimper that followed her out.

Like usual, Dahyun sat the piano in her favourite practice room and calmly let her fingers dance over the keys.  
Unlike usual, Chaeyoung leant against the end of the instrument and watched the blonde play with a soft smile.  
Dahyun suddenly stopped playing, having missed a chord and played a jarring sound instead.  
She looked up with wide, innocent eyes that made Chaeyoung’s heart skip a beat.  
“Chaeyoungie, are you sure you want to miss art club today?” she asked sweetly, shyly.   
Without even thinking, Chaeyoung replied, “Of course, Dahyunnie. I wanted to spend time with you. It’s been a while since you played for me.”  
The older girl chuckled. Chaeyoung felt herself start to blush at her own boldness.  
“I played for you on Monday,” she said.  
“I’ve slept since then,” the short girl replied nonchalantly. She rubbed the back of her neck and tried to quell some of the growing tension, “Besides, we were supposed to be doing life drawings today and apparently, some jock volunteered to model and that is not something I want to see. Not even for the sake of art.”  
Dahyun laughed, “Ah, so it’s not my company you’re after. You just don’t fancy looking at a dick.”  
“Dahyunnie. I’d always choose looking at your face over looking at some dick.”  
Was it just Chaeyoung’s imagination or did Dahyun just blush? The thought of Dahyun blushing because of her made the younger girl’s heart race.  
“Chaeyoung, you’re gay,”  
The girl in question pulled a face and sat down on the piano stool, forcing her crush to move over. Their bodies were pressed together. But Chaeyoung pretended not to notice that.  
“Do you still have perfect pitch?” the arty girl asked.   
The blonde nodded, her eyes seemed to be focussed on Chaeyoung’s mouth. She wondered if she had food stuck in her teeth. She wouldn’t be surprised if she did.  
The two girls played around for a bit, with Chaeyoung playing a chord and laughing every time Dahyun sung the note back to her, proclaiming the name of the chord.   
Breathlessly, Chaeyoung laughed, “You’re amazing, Dahyun.”  
The older girl blushed and turned away. She shook her head and refused the compliment.  
“I mean it, Dahyun. You’re amazing. You’re such a talented musician and you have an amazing singing voice and well, you amaze me,” Chaeyoung said sincerely, enjoying watching the smile that spread on her friend’s face.  
Dahyun chuckled nervously and looked up.  
“Bro,” she said.  
“Bro,” Chaeyoung whispered back.  
She had never noticed before how pretty Dahyun’s lips were.   
The sound of the door opening made the two girls jump.   
Chaeyoung tore her eyes away from Dahyun’s and looked at the doorway.   
Mina stood at the door with wide, glistening eyes. Her skin was pale. She looked horrified and sad and simply awful. But she somehow managed to look startlingly pretty. Even with the puffy cheeks and red rimmed eyes.   
“I’m sorry, I’ll go,” she said, her eyes jumping back and forth between the two girls in front of her.  
Chaeyoung stood up immediately and rushed to the girl, grabbing her wrist as she turned away. Mina pulled her wrist away as if Chaeyoung’s touch had burned her.   
“Hey, Mina, don’t go. What’s up?” the short girl cooed.  
The Japanese girl kept her head facing the exit.  
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll go,” she repeated.  
“Please,” Chaeyoung pleaded, reaching for her again.  
This time Mina allowed the short girl to rest her hand on her arm and she turned to look at the girl at the piano.  
“Stay,” Dahyun said softly, “Please.”  
Without warning, Mina engulfed Chaeyoung in a tight hug. The younger girl was surprised at how tight Mina held onto her, it was almost as if she was afraid that she would disappear if she loosened her grip.  
Cooing softly, the short girl guided Mina to the piano stool.  
Like a clingy child, her arms left Chaeyoung’s body and wrapped around Dahyun’s neck. The petite girl plonked herself down on Dahyun’s lap. The blonde looked up at her friend with a panicked expression. Her arms sort of flopped awkwardly by her side while the Japanese girl began to cry into her neck.  
Rolling her eyes, Chaeyoung guided the blonde’s arms around Mina’s waist and then crouched next to the stool. She rested one hand on Mina’s hip and the other on Dahyun’s thigh, for support, obviously.   
The two girls whispered encouraging things to the crying girl until they heard quiet sniffling that indicated that she had stopped.   
“Hey, what’s this about?” Chaeyoung asked softly.   
Her heart skipped a beat when Mina lifted her head to look at the short girl. She looked like she had diamonds in her eyes.   
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said, still sniffling.   
Dahyun lifted a hand to wipe a stray tear from Mina’s cheek.  
“It does to us,” she said. The hand which she used to stroke Mina’s cheek settled on top of Chaeyoung’s.   
Mina pouted, “I got into a fight with Jihyo and Sana. We’ve argued before, but never like that.”  
Dahyun and Chaeyoung exchanged a look, neither of them really knowing how to respond.   
Instead, the youngest decided to change the subject.  
“Did you know Dahyun has perfect pitch?” she asked loudly. “Watch.”  
Chaeyoung played a chord and Dahyun sang the name of the note back.  
Mina smiled. Chaeyoung felt dizzy looking at her.  
“Pretty,” she thought she heard Dahyun whisper.  
“Yeah,” she whispered back in agreement.   
“You try,” Chaeyoung said.   
The Japanese girl looked at the keys in thought. Her fingers hovered over the ivories.   
The youngest girl removed her hand from Mina’s hip and placed it over her fingers, then pressed her fingers down over the keys. Dahyun sang. Mina giggled. Chaeyoung felt breathless.  
The three of them played around for bit in that position. Mina sat on Dahyun’s lap with Chaeyoung crouched beside them, one hand sandwiched between the blonde’s thigh and hand and the other on top of the oldest’s delicate fingers.  
“Thanks for cheering me up,” Mina whispered after a bit.   
Feeling bold, Chaeyoung whispered,   
“Anything for you,”   
She raised herself up to press a gentle kiss to Mina’s cheek.  
She felt Dahyun’s eyes on her as she stood up.  
Mina looked at the blonde girl expectantly and presented her other cheek to her.  
“My left cheek feels left out,” she said bossily.   
“Oh, I’m sorry, Miss Left Cheek,” Dahyun announced dramatically and chastely kissed the presented cheek.  
Chaeyoung knew she should have felt jealous watching Dahyun kiss Mina but all she could do was chuckle at the blonde’s antics.   
“I’m gonna draw you two like that,” the short girl announced, suddenly filled with artistic inspiration. She grabbed her sketchbook from her bag and one of the pencils Mina gave to her. She pretended not to notice the way Mina pressed her head into the younger girl’s neck to hide her blush while Dahyun smiled softly.  
And so, she quickly sketched a rough drawing of Mina sat on Dahyun’s lap.  
She finished the rough outline quickly. She had drawn the two girls enough times that she could draw the details on their faces from memory. Their faces were ingrained in her memory.  
Satisfied with sketch, Chaeyoung flicked through the previous pages of her sketches as she closed her sketchbook.  
Every single page was decorated with a picture of either Dahyun or Mina. Or both.  
Some sketches were lifelike. Some were cartoonish in the style that she loved to draw in. Some had lines of poetry dotted around them.   
Then it struck her. Chaeyoung felt as if she had been hit in the face with a baseball bat. The baseball bat of truth. She looked up from her sketchbook, her mouth forming an ‘O’.  
Chaeyoung was in love.  
Chaeyoung was in love with Dahyun. And she was in love with Mina. She loved them both.  
Chaeyoung was fucked.   
Mina looked away from Dahyun and smiled at the short girl. Her face dropped a little.  
“Chaeyoung-ah? What’s up?”  
“You two look so cute together,” the sad words burst from her lips.   
Dahyun frowned as she turned to look at her pal.  
“Can we see it?”  
Chaeyoung looked down at her sketchbook filled with doodles of the two girls and not much else.  
“I haven’t finished it yet,” she said.   
“I bet it’s beautiful already,” Mina commented softly.  
Dahyun closed her eyes and hummed in agreement, sighing softly as if she was imagining what the sketch look like.  
Chaeyoung felt her brain turn to mush.  
Yep, she was fucked.

After school, Chaeyoung and Mina wondered into an (almost) empty classroom and sat side by side on the desk, their fingers almost brushing. Every time Mina’s fingers came remotely close to Chaeyoung’s own, she felt her heart begin to race. At this rate, she would probably have a heart attack if Mina touched her. The short girl usually liked to think of herself as a confident gay, she could be really smooth when she wanted to be. But something about Mina made her shy. Perhaps it was her feelings for her. That would probably explain why she had started to lose her boldness around Dahyun too.  
Jeongyeon was already in the room, sat at a desk with a script in hand. Notes and scribbles were jotted around it. Most probably stage directions, Chaeyoung imagined. Although she noticed that a few of the scribbles were addendums to the script which the younger girl had suggested herself.   
The oldest girl, who had glasses on that day, looked up over the rims of her spectacles and blinked at the two girls in front of her.  
“Well? Go on then,” she flapped the script expectantly, “Move the tables back and get practicing,” she commanded. The short haired girl continued, “We’ve got our drama teacher watching us practice tomorrow. Y’know, to see how we’re progressed. He can remove pieces from the show if he doesn’t think they’ll be good enough, so this piece has to be perfect.”  
Chaeyoung glanced at the girl beside her and gulped nervously.   
The two girls began to run through their scenes monotonously. After a couple of run throughs, Jeongyeon screwed up her face in thought and hummed.  
“Run through the final scene again,” she commanded.  
Chaeyoung and Mina did as they were told, reaching the part where Chaeyoung’s character proclaimed her love for Mina’s character.   
Like always, when it came to the part where Chaeyoung was supposed to kiss the other girl, she approached her and put her hand on her shoulder then looked at Jeongyeon. The director stared at the pair blankly and glanced down at the script.  
“You have read the script, right?” she asked, “You do know this is the part where you kiss her.”  
Chaeyoung glanced at the Japanese girl and then looked down at the floor. She nodded anxiously.  
“Well, go on then. Finish the scene. Kiss her,” the director said shortly.  
Nervously, the short girl looked up to the girl in front of her and looked into her dark eyes. Mina nodded her head a little, giving Chaeyoung a slight confidence booster.   
The younger girl slowly, and very awkwardly, lifted her chin and raised her body and then planted a quick, chaste peck on the other girl’s lips. She quickly pulled away and turned away from her co-star. She felt like a twelve-year-old.  
Jeongyeon snorted.  
“Is that it? God, that was so awkward. It looked like you’d never kissed anyone before,” she laughed.   
Embarrased, the short girl remained silent. Mina gasped audibly.  
“Was that your first kiss, Chaengie?” she asked quietly.   
Chaeyoung mumbled incoherently, her cheeks flaming hot.   
“Okay…” Jeongyeon mumbled awakwardly, “Um, sorry about that? Anyway, I want to see the scene again. With the kiss at the end.”  
Nodding to herself, Chaeyoung shuffled back to her position.   
She ran through her lines quickly and awkwardly, trying to avoid looking at Mina’s eyes. But then her eyes focussed on Mina’s lips and that made her even more nervous but it was too late for her, Mina’s lips were too hard to look away from.  
Chaeyoung said her last line, walked up to the Japanese girl determinedly and kissed her gently, her hands on Mina’s waist. Mina remained still. After a couple of seconds of pure bliss, the youngest pulled away and looked down.  
“Great,” Jeongyeon commented, “That was better. Do it again, but hold her face this time.”  
So Chaeyoung did as she was told. She delivered her final lines, walked up to her crush, took her face in her hands and pulled her towards her, kissing her gently. Their lips barely touched but it was enough to make Chaeyoung’s heart race.  
“Again. But be less gentle. Be more passionate,” the director commanded.  
Rolling her eyes, Chaeyoung repeated her lines once more. Having delivered her final line, she turned to look at Mina. She watched her lips move as she delivered her own line, which Chaeyoung was supposed to interrupt. She froze for a moment, entranced by Mina’s pretty lips. Her body seemed to move on its own accord and she marched up to the Japanese girl, grabbed her face and roughly connected their lips. She kissed with her a passion, a real passion, that she wasn’t aware she had inside of her. But Mina remained frozen.  
At least when Chaeyoung pulled away and opened her eyes, she could see that Mina had actually closed her eyes this time. The Japanese girl’s cheeks were lightly dusted with a blush that made the younger girl’s heart flutter.  
“Fantastic,” Jeongyeon commented, “Now let’s try it again. This time Mina kisses you back after a couple of seconds. Do this one soft, but keep with the cheek grabbing.”  
“You’re such a pervert, Jeongyeon-unnie,” Chaeyoung commented, her voice unsteady.   
But they did as they were told.  
The feeling of Mina’s lips finally moving against hers was enough to make the short girl want to melt into a little gay puddle.   
“And again, but passionately with Mina kissing back passionately.”  
Chaeyoung glanced up at the older girl as if asking for permission, and Mina nodded awkwardly.  
Once again, the lines were delivered. Chaeyoung marched up to Mina, grabbed her face and kissed her with all the passion she could muster (which was quite a lot). After a couple of seconds, Mina grabbed the short girl’s waist and pulled her closer. Chaeyoung gasped into Mina’s lips. Unconsciously, she opened her mouth to allow them to deepen the kiss. She was pleasantly surprised when the older girl’s tongue slipped inside her mouth. Chaeyoung had no idea what she was doing. But in that moment, she forgot that she was playing a character. She forgot that Jeongyeon was watching. In that moment, this was simply Mina kissing Chaeyoung.  
None of the girls in that room noticed the blonde girl who had walked up to the window of the classroom and peered inside. All that girl could see was Chaeyoung and Mina locked in a passionate embrace, their lips locked together. She didn’t see the director watching and judging them. Her eyes filled up with tears and she turned away from the window, rushing away as fast as she could. She was too far away to hear Jeongyeon’s enthusiastic applause when the two girls finally pulled apart, looking at each other with wide eyes and panting loudly. Dahyun didn’t know what heartbreak felt like. But in that moment, she thought she had a pretty good idea.

Another lgbt society meeting had come around. Momo cheerfully sat in her usually seat between her best friend and the girl that she was maybe dating (she still wasn’t sure). The Japanese girl took out a box of food from her bag and began to munch away happily on the tasty morsels inside. She offered the box to Nayeon (which she should have felt honoured by in Momo’s opinion) but the girl beside her stared into space with a blank look on her face.   
Momo nudged the girl beside her with a concerned frown.   
“Oh sorry,” Nayeon apologised, her eyes were unfocussed, “I’ve been kinda distracted lately.”  
“Are you still worried about the video?” Momo asked, lacking tact and subtlety as always.   
“Something like that,” the club’s president replied ominously.  
Momo then offered her food to Tzuyu, who refused it. She was biting her nails and seemed to look a little bit green. The Japanese girl had never seen the younger one look so nervous before. Honestly, it scared her a little.  
Momo regarded the room.  
On Nayeon’s other side sat Dahyun, who looked super glum. She had her head resting on her hands and she stared at Chaeyoung and Mina with big, puppy-dog eyes. She sighed wistfully. Momo reached over Nayeon, who was off in own little world again, to offer the younger girl a snack, which she accepted gratefully. Momo winked at the treasurer cheekily.  
Mina and Chaeyoung were sat beside each other. Momo noticed how they kept on making eye contact then looked away from each other, blushing. It was cute.  
Jeongyeon entered and sat beside Chaeyoung.   
It wasn’t long before Jihyo arrived. She stood at the door and looked around the room.  
Momo noticed how she looked at Mina and frowned sadly, biting her lip. She looked like she was going to go and sit by Jeongyeon, but changed her mind and sat by Kang Seulgi, who was sat very awkwardly by herself.  
The tension in the room was obvious, even to someone who wasn’t always great at reading the room, like Momo. It was so odd, Jihyo was avoiding Mina and seemingly Jeongyeon. Dahyun was glaring/staring like a lovesick teenager at Mina and Chaeyoung. Nayeon was completely spaced out. And Tzuyu looked like she was going to throw up.   
Was Momo the only one not involved in some kind of gay drama?  
She shoved Nayeon, letting her know that all the members had arrived.  
The leader stood up and introduced herself to the new member, her mind clearly elsewhere, and then moved on to open the meeting.   
“Can I say something?” Tzuyu interrupted, her voice shaking. Her body was shaking too.   
Nayeon nodded and sat down.   
The tall girl stood up and cleared her throat.  
“Hi, I’m Tzuyu,” she began, “the secretary,”  
“Yeah, we know,” Nayeon interrupted, scowling.   
Momo shoved her.  
Tzuyu glared at the president and cleared her throat again.  
“Hi, I’m Tzuyu, the secretary. I’m a sophomore, and I’m bisexual, more than just an ally,” she announced, her voice was steady.  
Momo’s heart burst with pride, she beamed up at the girl beside her.  
And just like that, the tension in the room was released.   
Everyone clapped and cheered.  
Chaeyoung leapt from her seat to engulf her friend in a hug.  
Jeongyeon got up and slapped her on the back, proclaiming them to be ‘bi buddies’.   
Jihyo teared up a little. As did Nayeon, claiming to feel like a proud, gay mother (Tzuyu commented that she was more like a grandma than a mother).  
Seemingly out of nowhere, Dahyun produced a cake which was decorated with rainbows and bi pride flags. She pulled her rainbow flag out of her bag (because apparently, she always carried a rainbow with her for occasions like these) and draped it over Tzuyu’s shoulders.   
Momo felt so proud of the younger girl. She hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear.  
“I’m going to take you out on a proper date,” she promised. Tzuyu beamed at Momo and whispered back,  
“Finally.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back lads.  
> This one took a while to write. One of the scenes was a joy to write but I didn't have much inspiration for the rest, hence the long wait.   
> Anyway, hope you like it.

It was the day of the theatre club rehearsal where they would perform in front of the drama teacher, the day Nayeon had been dreading.   
She wasn’t dreading it because she was nervous (she was nervous but she knew that some nerves were healthy) as she was confident that all the pieces she was in wouldn’t be cut. Nayeon knew she was talented enough to carry the cast of ‘The Princess Diaries’ section if she had to and, even though it kind of hurt to admit, Sana had the voice of an angel.  
No, she was dreading the rehearsal because of that goddamn duet.   
Part of Nayeon wanted to bail on that duet, having to get up close and personal with Sana and sing to her about being completely infatuated with her wasn’t exactly something that Nayeon fancied doing at that moment in time. It wasn’t something she fancied doing usually anyway, but having spent the last four days daydreaming about Sana’s lips and low-key having a crisis, now was not a good time. However, she was aware of how important this play was to Jeongyeon and she would never let her friend down like that. Besides, Nayeon loved singing. In another world, perhaps she would have made a career out of it.

Nayeon made her way into the theatre and sat down next to her best friend, who seemed to be holding hands with Tzuyu. She smiled absent-mindedly to Momo and looked around the room to see who was already there.   
Surprisingly, Nayeon had been the last to arrive.  
Dahyun was sat beside Tzuyu, looking how Nayeon felt, confused, grumpy and nervous. She was staring into the back of Chaeyoung’s head. The short girl in question was sat beside Mina, she was so close she might as well have been sat on her lap. Nayeon was surprised when Jihyo, who had previously been sat by herself looking at a book, moved to sit beside her. She gave Nayeon a weird smile and patted her knee comfortingly. Jeongyeon was clearly in director mode, she sat on the front row by herself and flicked through the scripts which had doodled her directions onto. Beside her was the notebook which she wrote corrections in.  
While surveying the theatre, Nayeon made eye contact with Sana, who was sat with the boys, probably flirting with them. Annoyingly, her heart began to race as she held the other girl’s gaze. She refused to be the one to look away first, after all, Nayeon had done nothing wrong. Sana kissed her first (she pretended it didn’t matter that she kissed back). The intensity of Sana’s gaze brought back memories of the younger girl’s eyes, filled with lust and a hint of sorrow and shame, trained on her own eyes in the moments before ‘that’ happened.   
Sana looked away first.  
Nayeon smiled smugly.  
“Are you alright, Nayeon?” Momo asked cluelessly, interrupting her thoughts, “You’re a bit red. Do you want some water?”  
“I’m fine,” Nayeon said quickly, focussing her gaze on her best friend. She smiled awkwardly.  
“Let’s get this over with, huh?” Momo joked awkwardly, pushing her glasses up her nose.  
“Hey, I’m looking forward to dancing with you,” Tzuyu remarked.  
Nayeon inwardly gagged when her best friend blushed and nuzzled the youngest girl’s neck. Dahyun gagged outwardly and made a throwing up motion when she caught the oldest girl’s eye.

The drama teacher soon arrived. He swept down the aisle, his long, oversized coat spread out behind him like a cloak. He stopped at the front of the auditorium, directly in front of Jeongyeon and said a few words to her, which Nayeon couldn’t hear. She could see Jeongyeon’s head bobbing up and down. The drama teacher smiled, it was odd seeing him smile, and sat down.  
“We’ll start with La la land,” the director announced.   
Nervously, Momo and Tzuyu squeezed their way into the aisle and hurried to the stage.  
Their performance went without a hitch, although Momo kept having to push up her glasses to make sure they stayed on whenever she did a turn. The two girls hugged sweetly at the end. Nayeon made eye contact with Dahyun and they made faces of disgust at each other.  
The brunette secretly thought that MoTzu was a really sweet couple, but they didn’t need to know that.  
From where she was sat, Nayeon could see the drama teacher conversing with Jeongyeon.   
As she was straining in an attempt to hear what they were saying about the piece, she heard Chaeyoung’s voice.  
“Dahyun-ah? Did you remember the chocopies for our scene?” she asked.   
Curious, Nayeon watched the scene play out.   
Both Mina and Chaeyoung were smiling softly at the blonde girl, who’s face was blank and uniterested.  
“Yes,” she said cooly. Chaeyoung blinked at the response in surprise. Clearly, Dahyun was in a mood. Mina frowned.   
Seeing their reactions, Dahyun’s face contorted so a strained smile replaced the blank look. She took the packets out of her pocket and waved them.   
Nayeon noticed that Mina still looked concerned, even though Chaeyoung was now smiling brightly.  
“Ah, Dahyun-ah, they’ll have melted in your pocket. I’ll get chocolate all over my fingers!” she said teasingly. Dahyun twitched.  
“I’m sure Mina will lick it off for you,” the blonde remarked. Nayeon couldn’t help but snort at Dahyun’s brash comment. The other girls were taken aback. Chaeyoung looked very flustered. “If you’re worried about it, maybe you should bring them next time.” Dahyun continued with her strained smile.   
Nayeon leant over and whispered to the blonde, “Beware the green-eyed monster, my friend. Which doth mock the meat it feeds from.”  
Suddenly shy, the blonde bowed her head and apologised.   
Nayeon was fairly amused. At least this gay drama distracted her from her own.  
Jeongyeon announced that Chaeyong and Dahyun would do their piece next. The two girls shimmied out of their seats while Momo and Tzuyu returned to theirs.   
It wasn’t as funny as it usually was. The blank expression which Dahyun had to wear for most of the performance seemed quite sincere. When they finished, Chaeyoung went to hug Dahyun. The blonde hugged her back, but Nayeon thought that it looked a bit awkward.   
The rehearsals continued with Sana’s piece, closely followed by Jeongyeon and Tzuyu’s Romeo and Juliet, which ran so smoothly it was hard to believe that they had barely practiced the scene this year.  
Then, Jeongyeon shouted the words which Nayeon was dreading.  
“Sun and Moon next,”   
Avoiding looking at the girl, Nayeon approached the stage with Sana by her side.  
Tzuyu, who was still on stage, helped the oldest girl drag a bed onto the stage. It was a prop that drama club had bought ages ago and was really manky. The mattress had stains all over it that Nayeon didn’t want to think about. Theatre nerds were known for being horny, after all. The sheets were a mucky shade of brown which fitted the scene of the song. Some of the art club nerds had helped by dying some white sheets and decorating them with muck (aka makeup).   
Gingerly, Sana perched on the end of the bed. Nayeon crouched in front of her and focussed on a stain on the sheets.   
“Remember to actually look at each other,” Jeongyeon shouted up to the stage condescendingly.   
Grumbling to herself, Nayeon raised her gaze upwards. Her breath hitched.  
The Japanese girl was already looking down at the brunette with an intense stare and an odd expression on her face, it was somewhere between a scowl and a soft, gentle look.   
The music started.  
During the long introduction, Sana stroked the older girl’s face and then took Nayeon’s hands into her own. They stared at each other. Surely it would have been forgivable if Nayeon quickly glanced at the younger girl’s lips? Feeling the heat begin to rise in her cheeks, the brunette looked back at Sana’s eyes. She fell back into the old habit of losing herself in those dark, beautiful eyes.  
Was that her cue?   
That was her cue.  
Nayeon burst into song, louder than she should have been and a beat behind the music.   
She lowered her volume to a more tender one and quickly caught up. She chose to ignore Sana’s infuriating chuckle at her mistake.   
As Nayeon neared the end of her verse, they reached the point where Sana was supposed to kiss Nayeon’s knuckles. The Japanese girl jerkily raised her hands to her own lips. She paused. The brunette could feel Sana’s breath against her fingers. Nayeon twitched her eyebrow and tried to subtly nod her head. Awkwardly, a delicate kiss was placed on her hand. As Sana started to sing, Nayeon pulled their entwined hands towards her, took a deep breath and kissed Sana’s knuckles in return.  
She let out her breath as she stood up, at least the most intimate part was over.   
The song continued. The music hit it’s crescendo as they harmonised beautiful.   
Nayeon did as Jeongyeon had asked of her and jumped into Sana’s arms at the correct time. She was always surprised by how easily the Japanese girl caught her. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she stepped away and looked at Sana’s forehead. She was not nearly missing her cue again.   
The song finally finished with Sana and Nayeon sat side by side on the bed. In the show, they would have kissed at the end of the song (and during it) but they finished awkwardly with Sana’s hand on Nayeon’s cheek. The nerdy girl couldn’t bring herself to lean into her warm touch. She simply stared at her opposite.  
As soon as the music stopped, Nayeon jumped up from the bed and stared at the director and the drama teacher, who was smiling.   
“I see you were true to the original work,” the teacher remarked, “Aside from the gender change and the lack of kissing.”  
The director laughed.  
Nayeon hurried back to her seat, refusing to look back at Sana.  
As she sat down, Jihyo took to the stage and began to belt out an emotional ballad.   
Tzuyu was still lurking in the wings and Dahyun had apparently gone to fetch a keyboard from the music room (she said that she sure as hell wasn’t going to drag a proper piano to the theatre by herself).   
“Nayeonnie, what was that?” Momo asked suddenly. Nayeon swallowed a chocking noise.  
“What was what?”  
“That performance?” the Japanese girl said, “It was probably the most awkward thing I’ve seen in my life and I’ve seen Dahyun’s attempt at flirting.”  
Nayeon clenched her jaw and remained silent.   
“I kinda fucked up Momo,” she whispered. “I accidently kissed Sana.”  
Momo laughed, making the older girl slap her arm in an attempt to shut her up.  
“How do you accidently kiss someone? Did you trip and land on her face tongue first?” she chuckled. Nayeon sighed heavily.  
“No. She kissed me and… well, I may or may not have kissed her back,” Nayeon revealed, “I’m just super confused at the moment and I can’t help but think about it every time I look at her.”  
Momo whistled softly.  
“Oh shit,” she said quietly, “I knew you still fancied her.”  
Nayeon slapped her friend’s arm, the blush which had crept onto her cheeks during her performance returned with a vengeance.   
Then, comfortingly, Momo put her hand on her friend’s knee and smiled brightly.  
“We’ll talk about this properly later, if you want,” she offered sincerely.  
The brunette grinned and ruffled her friend’s long bob.  
“Ah, Momo-yah. You’re my second favourite person,” she said.  
Offended, the Japanese girl opened her mouth, “Um, rude. Who is your favourite person then? Is it Tzuyu? I bet it’s Tzuyu. You love Tzuyu.”  
Nayeon hummed.  
“Ah, I guess you’re my third favourite person then, after Tzuyu,”  
“And who’s first?”  
“Myself, of course,” Nayeon said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
Momo rolled her eyes. 

They were nearing the end of the rehearsal now.   
The only pieces left to perform were Mina’s ballet solo and Jeongyeon’s original piece.   
Nayeon watched contently as Mina gracefully danced over the stage. Dahyun and her keyboard sat in the front right corner of the stage, since they didn’t have an orchestra pit and they didn’t have a microphone for the piano yet. She was glad that the ballerina danced so beautifully, it paid as a good distraction.   
The brunette could see Chaeyoung watching from the wings. Jeongyeon had made her wait there so they could move on as soon as Mina finished. Although if the short girl’s soppy smile was any indication, she didn’t seem to mind her close-up view of the dancing beauty.  
Mina finished with a bow. Nayeon, and the rest of the audience, clapped enthusiastically.   
The dancer curtseyed to her pianist and clapped for her, as was customary in the ballet world. The blonde stood up and took and awkward bow. She then grabbed the keyboard and stalked into the wings, the ones on the opposite side of the stage to Chaeyoung.  
Nayeon watched curiously as Mina followed the younger girl off-stage. She went to hold Dahyun’s wrist, but the blonde pulled away, hugging the keyboard like a child.   
Although Mina’s back was to Nayeon, she could see the girl flapping her arms like an angry penguin, clearly saying something to the blonde girl.  
Dahyun’s expression was sad, she shook her head and said something which Nayeon assumed to be an apology. Mina took a step towards the shorter girl, who took a step back and directed her gaze to floor. She said something. Nayeon watched her mouth move and deciphered the words shamelessly.  
“Don’t.”  
She watched Mina sheepishly return to the middle of stage, looking like a kicked puppy. Chaeyoung gave her a worried look and then watched Dahyun’s retreating form. The blonde girl reappeared in the auditorium. She dumped the keyboard on the row in front of her and then sat beside Nayeon. She had a face like thunder. Nayeon bit her lip.  
Jeongyeon shouted some directions and Mina and Chaeyoung burst into action, acting out the first scene of their play.   
Nayeon watched Dahyun’s expression curiously. Her cheeks were red and her eyes seemed to be glossy.  
On the stage, Mina gave Chaeyoung a kiss on the cheek. The blonde beside her flinched.  
As Chaeyoung’s monologue began, Dahyun began to squirm more and more in her seat.  
“I have to go,” she whispered suddenly.  
Nayeon stared at the girl hopelessly as she stood up silently and rushed out, making as little noise as possible.   
Tzuyu followed her soundlessly.  
Nayeon scowled to herself. Was it bad that she was invested in other people’s gay drama?   
No, she thought to herself.   
It was simply a way to ignore her own.

While Jeongyeon’s original piece was being rehearsed, Dahyun walked through the hallways quickly and silently. Her heart was pounding in her chest, she could hear her blood pumping in her ears. The picture of Chaeyoung and Mina kissing in that classroom was ingrained in the back of her mind and even thinking about made her chest constrict painfully.   
A voice called out her name. Dahyun stopped and, panting, turned to face the other girl. With all her athletics training, Tzuyu soon caught up to the blonde and was amazingly only lightly panting. Dahyun was panting so hard that she thought she might throw up. But that could have had a lot to do with anxiety.   
Tzuyu simply opened out her arms and Dahyun threw herself at the body of the younger girl, holding her tightly. Being considerably taller than the blonde, Tzuyu managed to rest her chin on top of her head. She softly patted her back.  
“What’s up, Dahyun-unnie?” the Taiwanese girl asked softly, still rubbing her unnie’s back.  
Dahyun hiccupped in reply, then pulled away and wiped at her eyes, mumbling about the silliness of her breakdown.   
All Tzuyu had to do was give Dahyun a stern look and the blonde started tearing up again.  
“I saw them kissing the other day, Chaeyoung and Mina,” the older girl revealed in between loud hiccups. “And it sucks because they’re dating and they’re not dating me and they never told me that they were dating and I thought we were closer than that and it just confirms that even if they do love me, they’ll choose each other over me and I’m so in love it hurts,” she bawled loudly.   
“Dahyun, breathe,” Tzuyu said softly, but sternly.  
Once Dahyun’s breathing had calmed down to a normal pace and she was sniffling and hiccupping quietly to herself, Tzuyu began to laugh softly. The older girl shot her a dirty look.  
“Ah, Dahyun-unnie, you’re so silly sometimes. They were practicing the kiss for the play!” she laughed. Dahyun immediately perked up.  
“They were?”  
“Yes, dumbass,” Tzuyu said fondly, making Dahyun screw up her face in response, revealing her double chin. “Were you not listening to Chaeyoung complain all of yesterday and today about how Jeongyeon-unnie made them practice different versions of the kiss for like half an hour?”  
Dahyun mumbled, “I was distracted by Chaeyoung’s arms.”  
That day, despite it being cold, Chaeyoung had worn a short-sleeved school shirt and had rolled up the sleeves to her shoulders. And Chaeyoung had guns. Guns! How was she supposed to focus on anything but her strong arms? The blonde had always found it hard to concentrate on words when Chaeyoung got her arms out.   
Dahyun’s confession made Tzuyu chortle. She lightly slapped the older girl’s arm.  
“You’re such a panic gay,” she commented.   
Dahyun could have denied it, but it was so obviously true that she didn’t need to bother.  
“So, they aren’t secretly dating behind my back?” Dahyun asked.  
“Sweetie, if Chaeyoung was dating Mina, the whole world would know about it. Not because of Mina’s popularity, but because Chaeyoung would probably broadcast it on television. You’d be watching TV one day and then Chaeyoung’s face would pop saying ‘Hello world, I, Son Chaeyoung am dating Myoui Mina’,” Tzuyu remarked nonchalantly, her blank face turned cheeky all of sudden, “And if she was dating you she’d put out a public broadcast on the radio. Probably even write songs about you.”  
The older girl couldn’t fight the blush that graced her cheeks.   
Dahyun gave the younger girl another hug and thanked her.  
“I think you probably owe a certain someone an apology for being weird and distant,” Tzuyu remarked, breaking through the silence.  
“Yeah, I do,” Dahyun agreed.  
The two girls slowly made their way back to the theatre.

By the time they had returned to the theatre, Mina and Chaeyoung had just finished their piece. They pulled away from each other as Dahyun opened the door. A part of her was glad that she didn’t have to witness them kiss again. Another part of her longed to watch it again.  
Tzuyu gave her friend a small shove, and Dahyun hurriedly walked down the side of the theatre, round to the side of the stage, where Mina and Chaeyoung were exiting the stage together.   
The two girls froze when they saw Dahyun staring at them.  
“What do you want, Dahyun?” Mina asked, not too harshly, “You made it pretty clear earlier that you didn’t want me anywhere near you.”  
The shortest girl among them looked to the ground and seemed to hide behind Mina slightly.  
“I’m sorry,” Dahyun said passionately, “I’ve been distant and weird and kind of a bitch today,” she apologised.   
The two girls looked a bit surprised.  
The oldest walked up to Dahyun, who was avoiding looking at the other two girls in case she started to cry again, and held her arm gently.  
“Thank you for the apology, we appreciate that. But, why have you been so weird lately?” Mina asked, “Chaeyoung and I want to be there for you, like you were for me after my fight with Sana and Jihyo.”  
Dahyun closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her chest heavy with emotion. She felt a familiar hand rub her other arm. She opened her eyes and was met with the sight of Mina and Chaeyoung’s faces up close and personal.  
“I saw you two kissing,” she revealed, Mina and Chaeyoung exchanged a look, blushing, which Dahyun tried to ignore, “I didn’t see Jeongyeon so I didn’t know you were practicing.”   
“Were you jealous?” Mina asked softly. Chaeyoung made a funny noise. The blonde’s eyes widened and she tried to distance herself slightly from her two crushes.  
“I- what? No,” Dahyun said, quite unconvincingly. Her face turned serious and she said honestly, “I was hurt. That’s all. I assumed that you guys had started dating without telling me and I thought we were closer than that. I thought you’d tell me if you were dating.”  
“Dahyun, we’re bros,” Chaeyoung exclaimed, “Of course I’d tell you if I was dating anyone.”  
Mina laughed.  
“That’s funny, I kind of thought that you and Chaeyoung were secretly dating, to be completely honest,” she revealed shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear.  
The two girls in question jumped apart. Chaeyoung rubbed her arm. Dahyun had to look away before she got lost in the wonderful world of the younger girl’s arms. She could feel herself blushing furiously.  
“Us two? Dating?” Chaeyoung squeaked, “I thought our dating rumours died down ages ago.”  
Dahyun laughed jokingly, “Yeah, careful, Myoui. Everyone will think that Chaeyoung and I are gay for each other if you aren’t careful.”  
“Dahyun, you are gay for anything with boobs,” the short girl teased.  
The blonde girl laughed and linked arms with the shorter girl. She was glad the tension had lifted by Chaeyoung’s teasing.   
She always found it funny that no matter how much she bickered with short girl or if they had a disagreement, they would always fall back into place.   
Mina found her place on Dahyun’s other side, her hand silently entwined with the blonde’s.  
“At least I don’t ogle girls though, like Mina,” she remarked casually. The Japanese girl laughed.  
“Yah! Stinky tofu,” she replied, slapping Dahyun’s arm with her free hand.  
The blonde girl glanced between Mina and Chaeyoung’s smiling faces.  
She hoped what Tzuyu said was true. She hoped they both reciprocated her feelings.   
Having neither of them hurt her enough, but it would kill her to have to choose.

Nervously, Nayeon watched Jeongyeon converse with the drama teacher. She jotted a couple of notes in her notebook and nodded her head. Her expression concerned Nayeon.  
It wasn’t long before the drama teacher let out a large grin that shocked the brunette to her very core (prior to today she had never seen him smile), bowed his head at Jeongyeon and then took his leave. His swept out the theatre, his long coat billowing out behind him.   
Jeongyeon called the cast over to the front of the theatre, where she was sat.   
Somehow Nayeon had ended up being shoved up next to Sana, which she wasn’t super happy about it. But rather than try to move away and possibly cause a scene, she simply clenched her jaw and made sure not to look at the Japanese girl, even though she could have sworn that she felt her gaze bore into her a few moments ago.   
Jeongyeon seemed to ignore the rest of the group while her eyes flicked over the notes she just made.  
The director looked up and surveyed the group. Nayeon’s heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest. The suspense was killing her.  
The corners of the short-haired girl’s lips turned upwards into a smug smirk.  
“Well, lads,” she said triumphantly, “He loved it. He loved the idea of doing a showcase instead of a play, he loved the premise of the show and he thought that every piece has the potential to be an absolute showstopper.”  
“You mean nothing’s been cut?” Nayeon burst out excitedly. Jeongyeon nodded smugly.  
The cast erupted into cheers. The boys amongst the group chest-bumped.  
“The key word though,” Jeongyeon continued, “Is ‘potential’. We’ve still got a long way to go and not much time to do it in. Seriously, we have about two weeks more of rehearsals and then it’s show week.”  
The cast quietened down. Nayeon took a deep breath and prepared herself for Jeongyeon’s words.  
“Our teacher loved ‘La la land’, you’ve got that one down. And he loved my original piece too, even asked for the script so that he could use it in his classes. His only suggestion was that we do a different interpretation of the ending for each evening so we’ll work on that,” she said jovially. Dahyun slapped Mina and Chaeyoung on their backs, a proud smile on her face. It seemed to Nayeon like their gay drama was over (for now at least), she was happy for them.   
“The main issue I think is the Miss Saigon duet,” the director turned her attention to Nayeon and Sana, “That was the worst I’ve seen you do that. I don’t care what gay drama goes on outside of this room, but when you’re on the stage all that matters is that the piece, the adoration and infatuation you have to portray, is believable. Sort your shit out, okay?”  
She continued to look around the room, focussing particularly on Mina, Chaeyoung and Dahyun.  
“That goes for all of you, leave the gay drama off the stage,” she warned the group.  
Nayeon released her breath and allowed herself to breathe normally. As far as bollockings go, that wasn’t too bad.   
The short haired girl continued to give out questions until Nayeon’s ears were numb.   
They were soon dismissed.

Having talked with her actors, Jeongyeon hung around the stage and asked any questions they had. Thankfully only one of boys had a question about one of his lines so that was over quickly. The group quickly fizzled out of the theatre, leaving behind only Jeongyeon and Jihyo.   
The older girl stopped packing away her belongings and looked up at the girl who stood in front of her with her large eyes directed at the ground.  
“You’ve been avoiding me lately,” Jeongyeon remarked. Jihyo ran her fingers through her long hair.  
“Yeah,” she agreed, “I’ve been dealing with a lot recently.”  
The short haired girl blinked at her almost girlfriend for a moment then walked up to her and pulled her into a soft hug. She felt Jihyo wrap her arms around her waist. Perhaps this was too intimate for a relationship of their kind, but friendship always came first to Jeongyeon, and it looked like Jihyo needed a friend.  
“I want to be there for you,” the older girl said. She felt Jihyo nuzzle her neck, clearly taking advantage of their height difference.   
After they pulled away from each other, Jeongyeon lead the younger girl to the stage, where they pulled themselves up to sit side by side. Their bare thighs brushed together, sending small shivers down Jeongyeon’s spine that were really not what she needed at that moment in time.  
“So, what’s up?”  
“I like your piece,”  
The two girls spoke at the same time. They turned to look at each other. Jihyo giggled. Her smile was like sunshine, it was blindingly beautiful. Jeongyeon felt the corners of her lips turn upwards. Jihyo gestured for Jeongyeon to go first, as she always did.  
“What’s up, Jihyo? What’s on your mind?” she asked, her voice full of concern. Of course, she was concerned, anyone would be concerned about the wellbeing of the girl they loved.  
“I had a fight with Sana and Mina a couple of days ago and we haven’t really spoken since,” she revealed, looking up to the ceiling. Jeongyeon allowed her hand to settle on the other girl’s knee, silently telling her to continue. “I told Sana something that she wasn’t ready to hear and she called me a hypocrite. And then I said something awful to Mina. Like, it was really awful. A dick move on my part. I guess there’s other worries on my mind too, but I’m used to them now.”  
The president turned her head and smiled. Jeongyeon couldn’t help it, her breath hitched every time she smiled at her like that. She liked to think that it was love and adoration that lit up Jihyo’s eyes, but she didn’t want to wish too hard.  
Jihyo spoke again, “I like your piece. It’s really beautiful.”  
The older girl fumbled with her words a little, commenting how Chaeyoung had helped a bit so she couldn’t take all the credit. Jihyo rolled her eyes good naturedly.  
“Is it, is it a bit autobiographical?” the younger girl asked. Jeongyeon froze, anticipating what was going to come next. “I just thought, with the coming out themes and that monologue about the protagonist’s worries about their sexuality, it seemed like it had a lot of your story in it.”  
Jeongyeon laughed, “Clearly you know me too well, Jihyo-yah.” She slowly dragged her hand off the president’s knee, settling her hands in her own lap.   
“And that ending scene. It’s so powerful. The way she reveals to be in love with her best friend,” Jihyo sighed wistfully as she trailed off. She rested her head on Jeongyeon’s shoulder. The short haired girl looked down at the head on her shoulder feeling conflicted, she was worried about what seemed to be coming next, but all she wanted was to revel in the intimacy of that moment.  
“Jihyo…” Jeongyeon began then trailed off. The girl in question lifted her head and locked eyes with her almost-girlfriend. She placed her hand on the older girl’s thigh. Her thumb started to slowly rub circles on the flesh of her inner thigh.  
Entranced by Jihyo’s beauty, Jeongyeon instinctively leant forwards, intending to kiss the other girl, but she was cut off by her words.  
“Jeongyeon-ah… was that scene about me?” she asked softly. Jeongyeon froze and let her mouth hang open slightly. She managed to nod.   
“Jeonyeon-ah…” Jihyo continued, “Are you in love with me?”  
“Erm… maybe?” the older girl said. She tried to laugh and make a joke but instead sounded a bit like a choking seal. Jihyo only stared at her.  
Jeongyeon let out a heavy, uneven breath and shuffled away slightly.  
“Yeah, I am in love you. I know we agreed to leave feelings out of our relationship, keep it casual. But I couldn’t help it. You’re so easy to love. Every time you smile at me I find myself falling deeper in love with you. I kept it quiet because I couldn’t bear to lose you. Not because of the sex but because your friendship means so much to me,” Jeongyeon said. She spoke slowly and decisively, taking the time to choose the right words. This moment, this monologue, had been rehearsed so many times in her head, but she found that saying it aloud was a whole lot harder than she could have ever imagined. Especially, because of Jihyo’s reaction.  
All Jihyo did was stare with a blank expression and wide, blinking eyes.   
Frowning, Jeongyeon shook her head, fighting back tears.  
“It’s okay, I get it. You don’t love me back. It’s okay, I’ll get over you eventually,” she said. She turned her body away and pushed herself off the edge of the low stage and landed with a soft, but somehow deafening, thud.  
Suddenly, she felt fingers wrap around her wrist and her body was pulled back towards the stage.   
“Don’t,” Jihyo said, her voice was low and gruff (and unbearably sexy), “Don’t get over me.”  
Before Jeongyeon could process the younger girl’s words, one hand was put onto her cheek, the other moved from Jeongyeon’s wrist to her waist. Jihyo’s lips collided into Jeongyeon’s. The older girl felt her breath hitch.  
All too soon, Jihyo pulled away. Her smile was bright but her cheeks were wet with tears.  
“I love you too,” she revealed breathlessly, “Oh, Jeongyeon, I love you so much. I didn’t think… I wasn’t sure…”  
Jeongyeon cut the younger girl off with a searing kiss. Jihyo opened her thighs to allow Jeongyeon to move closer.  
They remained in that position for a while, with Jihyo sat on the stage and Jeongyeon stood in front of her, sandwiched between Jihyo’s thighs. They kissed slowly and lazily, each of them giggling and smiling into each other’s lips. They whispered words of love as they paused to take languid breaths.  
The mood in the room began to change when Jihyo’s fingers danced over the top of the older girl’s thighs, sending shivers down her spine. Jeongyeon deepened the kiss, swiping her tongue against the younger girl’s lower lip and letting out a little moan when Jihyo opened her mouth, allowing her entrance.   
Jeongyeon’s breathing became faster, more erratic. Jihyo began to make familiar little whimpers that drove the older girl wild.   
Eventually, Jihyo roughly grabbed the back of Jeongyeon’s shirt and pulled her closer to her body. Picking up her signal, the short haired girl repositioned herself, and Jihyo, so that her thigh was pressed right up against the younger girl’s centre. Pleased with the long, needy whimper that escaped Jihyo’s lips, she rolled her hips.  
However, the mood was soon ruined by a screeching noise.  
“Yoo Jeongyeon! Park Jihyo! Are you two fucking? On the stage? Oh my god, my eyes!” Nayeon screamed loudly.  
Jeongyeon removed her thigh from between Jihyo’s legs, smirking at the disappointed sound she made.  
“Fuck off, Nayeon!” Jeongyeon shouted back.  
The oldest girl approached the stage, muttering about how she had been mentally scarred and how she didn’t deserve to have to had witnessed that. Apparently, all she wanted was to grab the water bottle she had left in theatre and was not impressed by the make-out session she had disturbed.  
“You’re such a party pooper,” Jeongyeon said childishly and shoved Nayeon when she was close. Nayeon stook her tongue out and called her a “poop”.   
“For the record,” Jihyo said, “we weren’t having sex in here. What you saw was no worse than what I saw you doing with Sana.”  
Nayeon’s eyes opened wide and she flushed bright red. Jeongyeon laughed loudly and gave her (possibly?) girlfriend a high five. The oldest girl made a bizarre chocking noise and then scoffed. She grabbed her water bottle furiously and turned on her heel, walking quickly away from the happy couple.  
Jeongyeon watched her go and then turned to Jihyo.  
“So… Nayeon and Sana, huh?”  
Jihyo rolled her eyes, “Don’t get me started.”  
Chatting as they went, Jihyo slipped off the edge of the stage, helped down by Jeongyeon, and the two lovers walked out of the theatre, hand in hand, with sweet smiles upon their faces. 

Nayeon stood awkwardly at the bus stop, glancing at her phone.   
Originally, she had been supposed to catch a lift with Momo, perhaps even stop at her house to have a chat about you-know-who (Sana, not Voldemort). However, rehearsal ran over and Momo’s parents could no longer pick her up so she had to get the bus home instead. Since they got different buses, and Nayeon had missed the earlier bus when she went to grab her water bottle, she was left by herself at the bus stop. In the dark.  
Jeongyeon and Jihyo had already left, hand in hand. They had offered the brunette a lift home, but Nayeon declined it. She didn’t want to inconvenience them. She also didn’t want to spend time with a sickly-sweet couple if she could avoid it. Motzu were bad enough.  
Of course, Nayeon was over the moon that Jeongeon and Jihyo seemed to have got their shit together and confessed. She was glad to see her childhood friends happy with each other. But it made her longing to be loved hurt a little bit more. Jealousy was a bitch.  
In the shadows, the brunette could make out four figures that were headed towards the bus stop.   
Suddenly anxious, she looked down at her phone and pretended to be immersed in it. She opened a random conversation and pretended to message someone.  
As the figures got closer, she could see that three were male, tall, broad and imposing, while the other was female, slim but curvy and wearing impossibly high heels.   
Nayeon directed her attention to her phone, pretending to be unbothered by the group.   
It was probably just a group of people walking past the school on their way to somewhere. Possibly the park to smoke or something like that. The air stank of cigarettes.   
A loud crash startled Nayeon.  
She whipped her head up and stared at the source of the noise. A large hand rested on the window of the bus shelter.  
Panic bubbled in Nayeon’s chest as she her eyes followed the offending man’s arm up to his shoulder’s, his stubble covered neck, his too familiar leering face.  
“Fancy seeing you here, Im Nayeon,” he growled mockingly.  
Nayeon squeaked and began to back away slowly.  
“Why are you trying to leave?” he sneered, “Don’t you remember me?”  
He dropped his cigarette to the ground and let one of the other boys stamp it out.  
“It’s me, your secret admirer.”  
She screamed.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me again!
> 
> I'd best put a trigger warning on this chapter for homophobia and violence.  
> (Although I'd assume that you'd probably guessed what might happen from the ending of the previous chapter).
> 
> There's some soft moments too though so it's not all bad.
> 
> Anyway, hope y'all like it.

Grumbling to herself, Sana collected the sheets of paper off the school council desk and carefully put them into her bag.  
“Go and grab some of the paperwork from the office, Sana,” she muttered to herself in a high-pitched voice, “Go through some of it over weekend, Sana. Go and tell Im Nayeon that you’re in love with her, Sana.”  
She groaned out loud and marched out of the office, bumping into the doorframe as she went.  
She and Jihyo still weren’t really on speaking terms, they only talked about student council business and that was it.  
It was times like these that Sana realized just how few actual friends she had. All those people who looked up to her and treated her like she was royalty weren’t friends, she couldn’t turn to them for help or assurance. She had been quick to make up with Mina when she spent a few hours with no one to talk to (which was torture to Sana) and they stuck together in their anger for Jihyo. The president should apologise first, especially to Mina, they agreed.  
The Japanese girl walked outside, into the darkness, and headed towards her car, which was parked on the pavement nearby as Sana had ran a little late that morning (purposefully as to avoid Jihyo and Nayeon) so the school’s small car park was full by the time she arrived.  
She thought to herself that she was glad that she was in possession of a driver’s licence when she saw a group of four people wondering down the street, looking quite intimidating. She wouldn’t have wanted to have to wait for the bus on an evening like this.  
There was a distinct chill in the air. A brisk, cold wind slapped Sana’s cheeks, bringing out the red in them. The air that followed the four people stank of cigarettes. A cloud of smoke seemed to follow them.  
She allowed herself to watch the small gang go past. She was sure that, even in the darkness, they seemed quite familiar. But she was too tired to think about it properly. It turned out that thinking about someone, and their lips, could be quite a tiring activity. The Japanese girl paid no attention to the group that was lurking around the bus stop and headed towards her car.  
A loud slamming noise startled her. Frightened, Sana refused to turn around and look at the commotion. She walked faster towards the car.  
A girl screamed.  
She knew that scream. She’d heard it before many times during her freshman year. It still haunted her.  
“Nayeon,” Sana whispered to herself.  
Her body turned towards the bus shelter and she found herself running towards the group of people. A small voice told her to just ignore this, like she always had done, but her body had gone into autopilot and clearly didn’t care what her mind thought.  
“Hey! What’s going on?” she shouted as she approached the group.  
The two people, a man and a woman, who were stood at the edge of the group parted and turned to look at the intruder.  
The pink haired woman smirked.  
“Nice of you to join us, Minatozaki Sana,” she said.  
“Unnie?” Sana shuddered, remembering the cruel things she had last heard come out of this woman’s mouth. She felt her delicate hand on her shoulder.  
She looked up at the tall man beside her. His eyes were focussed on the three people in front of him, a twisted sneer was fixed on his face.  
Sana let out a strangled gasp when she saw the scene in front of her.  
A girl lay on the ground, curled up in a ball with her arms protecting her head. One of the jocks in her year crouched beside her. He wasn’t a particularly good-looking boy, with meaty hands and a wide frame. It was Daejung, the same boy she caught harassing Dahyun a few weeks ago. He held a cigarette in one of his hands, he pressed it into his mouth and sucked on it, then blew the smoke out as he pressed the lit end into the back of Nayeon’s hand. A muffled scream filled the air.  
Sana watched in horror.  
Another boy stood over the girl. She hoped it wasn’t who she thought he was. He turned his face towards the Japanese girl.  
She was right. It was her ex-boyfriend.  
He lifted his leg, most likely to kick the girl who lay on the floor whimpering.  
“Stop it!” Sana cried and ran towards the small group. She pulled her ex out of the way and crouched on the floor beside Nayeon, attempting to protect her with her own body.  
The other jock stood up and backed off, looking pissed off.  
“What are you doing, Sana?” asked the girl in the group, “Why are you protecting that dyke?” she spat.  
Sana scoffed at her choice of words and pulled her phone out of her pocket. But she remained silent, choosing instead to gently rest her arm on the girl on the floor, who still whimpered slightly.  
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just fucking move her,” the man said, pulling a fresh cigarette out of a pack which was previously in his pocket.  
Daejung moved towards the girls. Sana typed the numbers into her phone.  
“Back off or I’ll call the police,” she said warningly.  
“You wouldn’t,” her ex laughed.  
“Fucking try me, bitch,” Sana hissed, her finger hovering over the call button.  
The sneer dropped off the face of the ring-leader and he nodded to the other boys. They took a step away from Sana and Nayeon, allowing Sana to breathe a little more freely.  
“Sana, move away from her. You don’t have to call the police. Just move out of the way so we can put her back in her place,” he said, his voice was smooth as silk, contradicting his rough appearance, “Remember what we did for you. What you owe Sohyun.”  
The aforementioned girl spoke up, “Don’t you enjoy your popularity, Sana? Don’t you like the power that comes with being on the student council? You wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for me. You wouldn’t have been on the dance team. You would never have been made a team captain. No one would give a shit about you if it weren’t for me.”  
Sana looked up at the girl.  
“I know,” she whispered honestly.  
“Then be a good dongsaeng and move away from her,” the older girl said, her voice was soft and sweet but there was malicious edge that frightened Sana.  
She started to shift away automatically. The older girl’s words rang in her head.  
Then she glanced down at the girl on the floor. Her hands were still around her head, a circular burn marked one of them. Her body was curled up and she made a slight whimpering noise. Tears marked the ground below her face.  
A shot of bravery hit the Japanese girl. Nayeon didn’t deserve this.  
“No,” Sana said and looked directly at the pink haired girl, who snarled. “She hasn’t done anything wrong. So why should I let you do this to her?”  
Daejung, the jock, put in his two cents (which absolutely no one had asked for).  
“That bitch has changed things. We can’t say what we want anymore. The fucking principle suspended me for two fucking days all because she caught me watching that video of her,” he said loudly, “One of the guys told us he didn’t want to fuck anybody at all and the guys were cool with it. Accepted it. But they shouldn’t. It’s fucking disgusting. He needs to get laid, that’s all, but if I tell him that I get detention. Fucking snowflake,”  
“We worked so hard to make that school how we wanted it to be. And then that girl comes and changes things with her gay club. All because she wants to shove her grim fingers down your fucking pants,” Sohyun spat. Sana bristled at the hypocrisy.  
“And we’re just putting her back into her place,” the leader spoke, “Reminding her that she deserves to burn in hell.”  
The Japanese girl turned her attention to her ex.  
“I thought you were better than this,” she accused him.  
“I thought you were straight,” he fired back nonchalantly. She flinched.  
Daejung snorted, “All she needs is some dick to straighten her out.”  
He took a step towards her, but Sana held up her phone, her fingers hovering over the call button. The jock stepped back.  
Sana, sensing that her threat gave her the upper hand, stood up and moved in front of Nayeon, blocking her from the gang. She puffed her chest out and eyed them up.  
“At least you were right about her getting hot,” Sohyun remarked, her eyes bored into Sana’s. The Japanese girl bristled but stood her ground, refusing to rise to the bait.  
The leader puffed on his cigarette. His dark eyes darted between Sana, her phone and the still weeping body on the floor.  
The sneer returned to his face.  
“We’ve done enough here,” he said finally, “That dyke isn’t worth fighting over.”  
He gestured to the rest of the group.  
“You’re both going to hell,” Sohyun spat. The other boys spat on the ground in response.  
“See you there, bitch,” Sana hissed back, making eye contact, trying to remind her of the last time they met and the confession that was made. The older girl at least had the decency to look ashamed as she turned and walked off.  
The rest of the group followed, except her ex, who remained staring at Sana with disgust.  
“Well now I know why you wouldn’t fuck me,” he said, his voice low.  
“She has nothing to do with our relationship,” Sana said, her blood boiling, “I didn’t fuck you because I didn’t want to. I’m not the slut people think I am.”  
The boy ignored her.  
“Is she a better kisser than me? What is it about that dyke that’s better than me?” he cried.  
“Don’t call her that!” Sana shouted, she was almost surprised herself at the words that left her lips.  
“I know you’re in love with her, it’s disgusting,” he shouted back, tears in his eyes.  
“Why does everyone think that?” Sana exclaimed, throwing her hands up.  
“You never protected her before, Sana. So why start now?” the boy said, his voice quieter.  
The Japanese girl hissed, “I’m tired of doing nothing while people get hurt because of something they can’t control.”  
“Something they can’t control?” he scoffed, making Sana bristle more.  
Furious, Sana decided to tease her ex.  
“So, is that why you’re here then? Jealousy? You think I care more about her than I do you so you thought you’d just eliminate the competition,” Sana spat.  
“You don’t know what it’s like loving someone who doesn’t love you back. I would have died for you,”  
“Oh, please. I was nothing but a hot piece of ass to you,”  
“Are you kidding? I fucking loved you and yeah, it sucked that you didn’t want to do anything with me,” he said, his voice became softer than before, but it was still full of rage and insecurity.  
“I told you before, I’m not that kind of girl. I wasn’t ready for that,” Sana exclaimed, very flustered. Her mind was beginning to become fuzzy with anger and exhaustion.  
“But I loved you, Sana,” he whined, trying to reach for the Japanese girl, who stepped back, closer to Nayeon, out of his reach.  
“That doesn’t mean I should have to fuck you,” Sana shouted loudly.  
“That doesn’t even matter anymore! I loved you so much. I still do. I would have done anything for you. So why couldn’t you love me?” he shouted back.  
“Because I’m fucking gay, you dickwad,” she screamed.  
Her heart was racing quickly, too quickly. She could hear her pulse in her ears.  
She had never said those words before, not even whispered them or admitted them silently.  
The boy’s eyes darkened.  
“You’re not,” he said, reaching out to grab the Japanese girl.  
She pulled her arm away. Nayeon groaned on the floor.  
“You’re not gay, Sana. You can’t be,” he said crying, “I love you, Sana.”  
His grabby hands held onto Sana’s shoulder. The other tried to grab onto her waist, her blazer, her face. The Japanese girl swatted his persistent hand away. He sobbed words at her but she wasn’t listening anymore.  
All she could hear was a buzzing noise, and the faint sound of girlish cries of pain.  
She looked at the hand on her shoulder, the girl on the ground, the crying boy’s face.  
Her hand whipped out.  
Her fist connected with his jaw with a loud thump.  
The boy staggered backwards in shock.  
“If you touch me or my friends again, you’ll end up with more than just a bruised jaw,” Sana threatened, her voice low and dangerous.  
Her ex hurried off, cradling his jaw.

Panting, Sana knelt by the girl beside her.  
Nayeon uncurled herself out of her ball, and sat up on the ground, wincing.  
“They’ve gone now,” Sana said softly, she awkwardly put her hand on the girl’s knee. She kept her other bruised and battered hand close to her chest.  
The older girl stared at Sana for a few moments in complete disbelief. She muttered the Japanese girl’s name in a way that made her heart constrict.  
“I’ll uh, call the police or an ambulance or something,” Sana stuttered, getting her phone out. The device slipped from her fingers and bounced onto the floor. She swore and picked it up, her hands shaking.  
“Don’t,” the girl on the floor said. Before Sana could protest, she smiled and said, “I’ve had worse.”  
“But the burn,” the Japanese girl found herself saying.  
“I can sort that out,” Nayeon insisted, her cheeks beginning to turn a little red. She wiped at her eyes and began to stand up.  
As she came to her feet and stood up straight, the girl suddenly tipped herself forward and groaned. Sana stood up and put her arms the older girl without even thinking.  
“I’m just a bit lightheaded,” the once nerdy girl muttered.  
“Yeah, okay. I’m driving you home,” Sana said.  
Once she had half-carried Nayeon to her car, they set off towards Nayeon’s house.  
“I’ll get them fucking expelled,” Sana muttered to herself, “I’m gonna tell the principle and Jihyo and use our presidential powers to get those little shits expelled.”  
She heard the girl beside her chuckle lightly. Usually it would have pissed her off but today it didn’t.  
The car journey was silent and felt very awkward to Sana. She kept on glancing at the girl beside her, only to make sure that she was still awake, and definitely not because of any other reason.  
Sana noticed that there were no visible lights turned on in Nayeon’s house. It was the first thing she noticed when she her car came to a halt outside of the house. The driveway was empty too.  
“Nayeon, are your parents in?” Sana asked uncertainly.  
“Ooh, how forward of you,” Nayeon giggled.  
The Japanese girl blushed, her anger starting to rise again, but it was quelled quickly when she saw the dazed look on the older girl’s face, and the angry burn on her hand.  
She practically dragged the girl down the driveway towards the door and tried to open it. She knocked on it, just in case.  
Then the slightly dazed girl beside her whipped out her key and opened the door.  
“My parents won’t be back till late,” she explained quietly, a much more serious look on her face.  
“Then I’ll stay with you until they do,” Sana said firmly.

Sana couldn’t believe she was doing this.  
Just hours before, she was adamant that she didn’t want anything to do with Im Nayeon, even if she was a fantastic kisser. Yet, here she was tending to the injured girl’s wounds, feeding her soup and making sure that she didn’t fall asleep. She wasn’t unconvinced that Nayeon didn’t have a concussion.  
According to the older girl, all that had happened before Sana had intervened was that she had been pushed to the floor and she had hit her head on the pavement. Obviously, she had the burn on her hand, but it seemed like Sana had arrived just before any real damage could be done.  
“Do you, erm, still have a headache?” she asked tentatively.  
Nayeon looked up at the Japanese girl in surprise, the soup spoon still in her mouth. Embarrassed, Sana pulled the spoon away and used it to stir the soup.  
“Not really, it’s pretty much gone now.,” she said and then laughed, “But I might have a lump for a few days.”  
Annoyed that she hadn’t thought about a lump earlier, Sana put the soup bowl down on the coffee table which was in front of the couch which Nayeon was lying on. She rushed into the kitchen (quite surprised that after all this time she still knew her away around the house) and grabbed a bag of frozen peas and a tea towel. Her bruised and battered hand throbbed, but she wasn’t the important one in this situation.  
She returned to living room to find Nayeon staring at the soup bowl with large, wistful eyes that had been covered slightly by her spectacles.  
“You could have fed yourself, you know,” Sana said.  
Nayeon smirked, “I liked having you take care of me.”  
Grumbling, the younger girl plonked the makeshift ice pack on Nayeon’s head. She must have had a concussion if she was making comments like that. The older girl reached up to the bag of peas with a soft smile that Sana was unwilling to admit made her insides feel all soft and gooey. She crouched down beside the sofa and placed her hands on the leather cushion, she looked up at Nayeon’s face. Her eyes dropped down to her lips. It would be so easy, wouldn’t it?  
“You know I was joking about the lump,” the brunette chuckled. Sana pouted and huffed. Nayeon removed the makeshift ice pack from her head and placed it over Sana’s bruised knuckles. It stung a little when the cold bag touched her hand and she let out a small hiss.  
A small clearing of the throat drew Sana’s attention away from her injured hand. The older girl glanced at the soup bowl and opened her mouth expectantly.  
Sana groaned and rolled her eyes.  
“How am I supposed to hold the bowl, feed you and keep this on my hand?” she asked, gesturing to the bag of peas. Nayeon giggled.  
“I’ll hold the bowl, silly,” she replied and then opened her mouth up wide for Sana.  
Still grumbling, Sana complied.

She wasn’t sure how it happened, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it, but Sana seemed to have found herself laid down on the sofa next to Nayeon, the smaller girl cuddled up to her.  
Having fed Nayeon, the older girl convinced Sana to get some food herself. She obeyed and took the time to call her parents, saying that she was at Mina’s house, and then texted her Japanese friend to ask her to lie for her if her parents called. They had been known to do that from time to time, call whoever’s friend’s house that Sana was supposedly staying at in case she was at a party, or worse, a boy’s house, or even worse than that, Nayeon’s house since apparently associating with a lesbian was worse than getting trashed and/or having sex. She had returned to the living room and somehow, half an hour later, she found herself cuddling with the girl she was supposed to hate.  
The room was quiet, save for the sounds of their breathing. Sana lay facing the ceiling with Nayeon’s front pressed against her side. Her legs entwined with Sana’s and her arm was carelessly thrown across the younger girl’s waist.  
Probably sensing Sana’s confusion and discomfort, Nayeon attempted to shuffle back a bit, even though the sofa wasn’t very big.  
“So…” the older girl began.  
“So,” Sana repeated back to her.  
“You’re gay, huh?”  
The Japanese girl pressed her lips together and remained silent for a few seconds. She then let out a low humming noise.  
“When did you, uh, figure that one out?” the older girl asked tentatively.  
“Honestly? Four years ago, when I kissed you for the first time,” Sana revealed awkwardly, “But I convinced myself it wasn’t true, buried the truth in a massive hole of denial. I guess seeing you hurt like that and having my ex demand to know why I couldn’t love him allowed me to be able to admit that I’m, y’know.”  
“I know,” Nayeon whispered.  
“I’m not gonna join your gay club anytime soon,” the younger girl said defiantly. She felt Nayeon shrug against her. She was surprised that she hadn’t corrected her, made her call it by its actual name and not ‘gay club’.  
The silence consumed them once more.  
A sudden confession weighed heavy on Sana’s chest. Feeling the older girl nuzzle her check with her nose, and the combined memories of seeing Nayeon in pain and feeling her lips against hers, gave her the urge to say it aloud. The words trickled up from her heart, up her throat, on to her tongue. They tasted bittersweet in her mouth.  
“I did love you, you know,” she confessed, “I told you that I loved you the week before it all went to shit and I wasn’t lying.”  
“Oh,” Nayeon replied lifelessly. She remained silent for a few more moments then laughed bitterly into Sana’s neck. “It was easier when I thought you were lying.”  
Awkwardly, the Japanese girl hummed in response to the older girl’s remark.  
In that moment, she had so many feelings running through her body that she didn’t know what to do. The main feeling, the one she felt the strongest was guilt. Obviously, there was a lot of denial going on, but Sana had gone too far to let that consume her.  
“For what it’s worth,” Sana said quietly and sincerely, “I really am sorry about what I did to you. I’ve done some bad things. I’ve lied to so many people for so long about who I am, what I want. I’ve lied to myself so often that sometimes I’m not sure that what I’m feeling is true. But the worst thing I’ve ever done is lie to you and then stand back and watch as your life was torn apart all because of something I did.” Her eyes filled up with tears and she let them spill over. Nayeon pulled away with a frown.  
“If you loved me, like you say you did. Then why did you do it? If you loved me, how could you stand and watch them tear me apart?” she said passionately.  
“Because I’m a coward. And I’m selfish. I always have been. It was so much easier to convince myself that I didn’t care about you, that I hated you, and stand back and let the people believe what they wanted to believe than it was to admit that I was just like you. I thought the popularity would be worth it, but it wasn’t,” Sana confessed.  
She sighed to herself and tilted her head to face the other girl.  
“I think you deserve an actual explanation of why I did it,” she said soberly.  
The injured girl beside her nodded her head.  
Sana launched herself into the story behind the video. She explained that in order to properly become part of the popular clique, she had to do something for them before she could be inducted. The leader at the time, Sohyun, had taken a liking to the Japanese girl (which Sana now knew was more than just a funny admiration) and Sana was easily tempted by her promises of friendship and, more importantly, power over the school. As she was surely aware, Nayeon’s opposition for the student council role she was running for had been chosen by the clique, but when it seemed like Nayeon would win, the clique had to do something to get rid of her. Sana revealed that she had been told that there was a rumour going around the school, a rumour which she now knew wasn’t even real, that she was dating Nayeon. Terrified, Sana had agreed to do the clique’s bidding and they in turn would rid the school of the rumour before it reached the pta.  
“Why couldn’t it reach the pta?” Nayeon asked innocently, absorbed by the story.  
“Because my parents are on the pta,” Sana revealed, “And if you think your parents reacted badly, their reaction would seem like nothing compared to what my parents would do. They wouldn’t just kick me out, they would completely disown me. I would have had nothing.”  
The Japanese girl took a moment to take a deep breath and calm down before she continued with her story.  
The plan was that Sana would manipulate Nayeon into admitting that she was a lesbian and Sohyun would film it. She was told that the video would be used as blackmail to make Nayeon stop running for student council, forfeiting the role to the clique approved girl. Sana didn’t know that they would film Nayeon’s love confession, it was why she couldn’t kiss her back. She didn’t know that the video would be played for the whole school to see.  
But it happened, and all Sana did was watch.  
“I guess I understand now,” Nayeon said, “And, I accept your apology.”  
Sana’s heart began to race with glee, but it soon dropped again.  
“But I can’t forgive you. I don’t know if I ever will,” she admitted, “But I can try. You saved my ass today and I guess it means a lot to me. So yeah, I’ll think about forgiving you.”  
“I wouldn’t expect you to forgive me,” Sana admitted quietly.  
Nayeon sighed audibly.  
“For a moment back there, I really thought that you were going to let them hurt me,” she whispered, sounding quite broken.  
Sana scowled. She’d hoped that the older girl hadn’t noticed her hesitation.  
“I think I almost did,” she confessed, her voice low.  
“But you didn’t,” Nayeon’s voice cracked.  
Sana allowed herself to look at the small, broken girl that was pressed against her.  
A mistake.  
She was so pretty, looking up at Sana’s face with a slight scowl. Her dark eyes were filled with wonder and hint of confusion. Her cheeks were lightly dusted with a hint of red. Her lips were fell apart.  
What Sana wanted was to shift her weight and tilted her head down. What she wanted was to capture Nayeon’s lips in a gentle kiss. What she wanted was to take all the feelings of hatred she had undoubtedly placed within the older girl and kiss them away. What she wanted was to wipe away her tears and help to fix the cracks that Sana herself had created.  
But perhaps Sana’s aid would only make those cracks run deeper. Perhaps Nayeon was already fixing them herself. Perhaps she had so much hatred that it would take an eternity for Sana to kiss it all away. She was willing to try.  
Instead, Sana turned her head in the opposite direction. She closed her eyes.  
“No, I didn’t.”

Nayeon woke up the next morning feeling quite warm with a dull ache in her head.  
She could feel the back of the sofa pressed up against her back and something warm and foreign pressed against her front. A person. Her legs were tangled between the other person’s legs. Her arms were wrapped around their waist, and she could feel the one arm was tucked underneath Nayeon’s neck, the other lay across her body, the hand spread out across her back, keeping her pulled close.  
Nayeon opened her eyes and stared at crook of Sana’s neck. She had the sudden urge to gently kiss the pale skin. She resisted that urge. She didn’t know if Sana was awake or not and somehow, she didn’t think that the younger girl would appreciate being woken up to a kiss on the neck.  
Slowly, Nayeon lifter her gaze upwards. She dragged her eyes up Sana’s pale neck, mentally caressed her jaw, admired her ever so slightly puffy cheeks and then locked onto Sana’s open eyes. They were the most beautiful shade of brown, so dark you could call them black. The thin strip of iris blended in with the blown pupils.  
The older girl froze, open eyes meant that Sana was awake.  
“Hey,” Sana breathed, her voice was lower than usually. Gruff and sexy.  
“Hey,” Nayeon whispered back, entranced by the intensity of the other girl.  
She could feel Sana’s breath hot against her face.  
She could feel the heat begin to rise in her cheeks and the pressure begin to build in her lower belly. That was probably due to the unfortunate placement of the other girl’s thigh.  
The younger girl shifted slightly, she lifted her head upwards and shifted into, what Nayeon assumed was, a more comfortable position. The thigh which was trapped between the brunette’s legs shifted upwards a little. On its way back to its original position, the thigh pressed up against Nayeon’s increasingly wet area. She tried to suppress a moan and succeeded, for the most part. A very quiet, breathy whine left her lips.  
Nayeon prayed that Sana hadn’t heard the noise she made, but the younger girl must have heard it for her expression shifted. Her eyebrows furrowed a little and her lips parted, her dark eyes dropped downwards then locked onto Nayeon’s own eyes pleadingly.  
“Why are you looking at me like that?” the older girl whispered.  
“Like what?” Sana mumbled absently, her mind seemed to be elsewhere.  
“Like you want to kiss me,” Nayeon said, her voice came out quiet and breathy.  
The Japanese girl’s eyes once again flicked downwards.  
“Because I do,” she admitted.  
Nayeon couldn’t help but laugh harshly, both out of surprise and disbelief.  
“What happened to the girl who would have bitten my hand off if I even suggested that she like girls?” she chuckled.  
Sana’s lips curled upwards, but she looked a little sad. Her eyes still remained on Nayeon’s lips.  
“She got tired,” she whispered in that gruff, sleepy voice that made Nayeon shiver, “Tired of pretending to be something she wasn’t.”  
Her head tilted downwards and her face loomed slowly closer.  
Nayeon could have counted her eyelashes if she wanted to, but she was too busy looking at the deep brown of Sana’s irises.  
“Don’t,” the older girl said half-heartedly. Her grip on Sana’s waist got tighter.  
“Why not?” she asked.  
Nayeon’s focus dropped down to Sana’s lips which continued to move towards her own. Surely the other girl could feel how fast her heart was racing?  
A sentence, something she had said herself, ran through her head. You always did kiss me first.  
“Yeah, why not,” Nayeon whispered.  
She closed the ever-decreasing gap between them.

The living room light suddenly turned on. Nayeon was rolling her hips onto Sana's raised thigh, her face buried into the younger girl's neck to muffle her moans. She had been nibbling on Sana's collarbone, delighted by the breathy noises she had been making. One of Sana's hands was entwined in Nayeon's thick, brown hair and the other rested on her hip, guiding Nayeon's hips onto her own thigh. Nayeon felt Sana stiffen. She, herself, held her breath but kept her head nestled in Sana’s neck.  
“Morning, girls, are you awake?” her mother’s voice called out quietly.  
Well I am now, Nayeon thought to herself.  
She groaned, pretending to have just woken up and looked up at her mother.  
“Mornin’,” she said, forcing herself to sound groggier than she was.  
Her mother left the room, leaving the light on.  
“We should get up,” Nayeon said to Sana, her heart still pounding.  
Wordlessly, the Japanese girl untangled herself from Nayeon and rolled off the couch.  
“I’m gonna need a cold shower when I get home,” she overheard her mutter.  
Knowing the effect she had on the younger girl made Nayeon blush.  
The Japanese girl gathered her things together silently. Nayeon watched as she called Mina, asking her for a lift home. A small, red mark caught the brunette’s attention while the two girls awkwardly sat on the couch waiting for the other Japanese girl to arrive.  
“Um, Sana,” Nayeon said anxiously, “I think I accidently gave you a hickey.”  
Sana’s eyes widened in panic. She got her phone out to see the damage. She relaxed when she saw the it was so low on her neck it was practically on her collarbone, and it was small and not very angry looking.  
“It’s okay, Mina will lend me her hoodie. That will cover it,” the Japanese girl said, sounding a lot calmer than Nayeon expected. “It will help sell the lie anyway. Y’know, that I was at Mina’s house.”  
Unwittingly, Nayeon’s heart sank. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Sana would call her parents and tell them that she was staying with a known lesbian for the night because she wasn’t sure whether or not she had a concussion. But after what they just did, it still stung a little.  
They didn’t have to wait long before Mina arrived and picked up Sana. Nayeon had opened the door, with Sana lurking behind her. She had noticed the way that Mina glanced between the suspiciously, especially after she noticed the little red mark on Sana’s neck and her bruised knuckles.  
Once they had left, Nayeon took a seat on the couch that she had come damn close to having sex on with her breakfast.  
Her father came and sat on the adjacent armchair. He wasn’t looking at Nayeon. She began to worry that she had been louder than she thought and that he was going to tell her off for what just happened on the couch.  
“Are you going to tell me why Minatozaki Sana, the girl who broke my girl’s heart, stayed over last night? And why your hand is bandaged up like that?” he asked finally, much more gently than Nayeon expected.  
“Ah. About that…” she began.

Sana’s car journey to Mina’s house was awkward to say the least.  
“Did you call Jihyo?” Sana asked, breaking the silence.  
“Yes, she said she’s waiting outside my house,” Mina replied shortly then sighed, “Why do we have to have this talk at my house and not yours?”  
“Because I don’t want to go home yet,” Sana admitted, “And I can’t have my parents eavesdropping.”  
“This is about Nayeon, isn’t it?” Mina phrased the question as more of a statement, “I assume you’re going to tell us about that hickey.”  
Sana hummed absently. Her body may have been in the car with Mina, but her mind was still on that couch with Nayeon, revelling in the feeling of the nerdy girl’s hips rolling onto her thigh, making it feel warmer and warmer with each thrust.  
Mina was right that Jihyo had arrived before the Japanese girls. But she had been wrong about her waiting outside for Mina’s parents had invited the charismatic girl inside for some tea. The Japanese girl’s parents were conversing with Jihyo in broken Korean when Sana and Mina walked into the house. While laughing at something Mina’s dad had said, Jihyo spotted the two girls and immediately laid her eyes on Sana’s hickey and then saw her injured hand.  
Mina’s parents also saw the two girls and waved them over, offering them tea and snacks. Sana took them up on both since she hadn’t eaten yet.  
The man of the house saw the red mark on the oldest girl’s neck and laughed good naturedly.  
“I hope that wasn’t our Mina that did that to you,” he teased, “From what I’ve heard you’re already keeping two girls from us, have you managed to make another one fall in love with you too?”  
Mina’s mouth dropped open and she turned red. Jihyo giggled loudly.  
“Ah, it’s that Myoui charm,” Mina’s mother commented, nodding her head wisely, “Girls fall for it every time. I know I did.”  
Sana laughed and then shook her head.  
“With all due respect, Mr Myoui, Mina isn’t exactly my type,” she said. And then added on cheekily, “Besides, I think she prefers younger girls.”  
There was no mistaking the blush on Mina’s cheeks. They were now as red as her hair had once been.  
Laughing raucously, Mina’s parents left the room to give the girls some privacy.  
“Did you tell them about Dahyun and Chaeyoung?” the youngest accused Jihyo who shook her head.  
“No, they asked me more about the girls you apparently speak about more often and I just told them the truth,” she said honestly. She turned to Sana and nodded, “Nice hickey.”  
Sana laughed shortly.  
“Same goes to you,” she said, “Did you finally confess to Jeongyeon?”  
Jihyo’s hand touched the poorly concealed mark on her neck and then smiled widely.  
“She confessed first. We’re dating now,” she said absently. Her eyes snapped back into focus, “And before we talk about Sana’s gay drama, I want to apologise for what I said. Especially to you, Mina. I was way out of line with what I said and for the record I don’t think that at all. And Sana, I shouldn’t have pushed you like that. It wasn’t fair of me to expect you to suddenly just accept who you are and confess to Nayeon.”  
Mina and Sana apologised next, to Jihyo first and then again to each other. The group of girls hugged it out. Jihyo wiped away a small tear.  
And then they moved onto the main event, the reason why Sana had gathered her friends at Mina’s house.  
She told them the story of how she stopped Nayeon from being beaten up the previous night, how she punched her ex-boyfriend (hence the bruised knuckles) and how she properly apologised to the older girl.  
“And while I was arguing with my ex, my accidently came out to him,” she finished her story with her revelation, “So obviously Nayeon heard me saying that I’m, y’know.”  
“It’ll be easier if you say it, Sana,” Jihyo said wisely, “You have nothing to be ashamed of.”  
“I’m a lesbian,” she said firmly, “Fuck, I’m a lesbian. It feels so weird to say it out loud.”  
“Both liberating and terrifying at the same time, right?” Mina asked. Sana nodded wordlessly.  
“Well, that doesn’t explain the hickey,” Jihyo said condescendingly. Sana winced.  
She wasn’t sure whether to be smug or ashamed when she revealed what had happened that morning. The kiss, followed by the make-out session which would definitely had led to something more if they hadn’t had been interrupted (although Sana was well aware that it was better that they had stopped because it would have been humiliating if they had been caught at a later stage).  
“Well, shit,” Jihyo whistled, “School is going to be weird on Monday.”  
Sana couldn’t have agreed more.

Rumours spread quickly on Monday morning when Sana walked into school with a bandaged hand and her ex walked in with a black bruise on his jaw.  
The people in school quickly put two and two together, and got three.  
Some of the rumours that were flying around were plausible.  
Perhaps he had cheated on Sana when they were together and she punched him when she found out. Perhaps Sana had been the one who had cheated and she had punched her ex in self-defence when he found out what she’d done.  
There were some weird ones flying around.  
One person claimed to have seen them at an underground fight club and Sana had actually injured her hand defending her ex after she saw him get sucker-punched in the jaw. Someone else suggested that they were hooking up on the down low and that they had gotten a bit carried away during their last hook up.  
But then Sana’s ex got suspended, along with another jock, Daejung.  
The rumour mill didn’t know what to think about that, they thought that perhaps the punching and the suspension were unrelated. After all, Daejung had a reputation for smoking in the boy’s toilets which the teachers might have finally found out about.  
No one really noticed the plaster on Nayeon’s hand which covered her healing burn.  
No one noticed the hickey on Sana’s neck, it had almost faded and was hidden by the collar of her shirt.  
No one even considered that Nayeon was involved in all three things, the injured hand, the bruised jaw and the suspensions.  
Nayeon preferred it that way.


	18. Chapter 18

Nayeon stepped out from behind the screen they had put in the theatre which served as a changing room. It was the week before show week and the theatre club had started doing rehearsals with costumes. Jeongyeon and Nayeon had spent weeks sourcing costumes, buying costumes, convincing people to bring their own costumes and bribing a very talented seamstress in art club to make costumes (she was easily bribed by a coffee date which one of the boys in theatre club who she had fancied since freshman year).   
The club had now been forced to rehearse as many times per week as they possibly could to make sure that Jeongyeon’s directorial debut was not a big fucking flop. The club was set to rehearse over most lunchtimes and now Monday after school, since that was the only time everyone was completely free and Jeongyeon was insistent that everyone try on their costumes a week before the actual proper dress rehearsal in case they had any major disasters. Despite being goofy and silly 90% of the time, Nayeon really admired how focussed Jeongyeon could be.  
So that was why Nayeon was stepping out from behind the screen wearing just a t-shirt. It was dark green, the colour of an army uniform, and it was clearly meant to be worn by a man. It hung off Nayeon’s slim frame. The sleeves nearly touched her elbows. The shirt was long enough to cover her bottom, the hem grazing her upper thighs.   
Jeongyeon whistled loudly when Nayeon emerged from behind the make-shift changing room, earning a gentle slap from her girlfriend.   
“Is it too short?” the older girl asked, playing the hem of the shirt. She could feel the eyes of the whole room on her and she was shitting bricks. “What if people see my underwear?”  
“You’ll be fine,” Jeongyeon said decisively, “We both agreed that we wanted to be as accurate to the musical as we could be. Do the performance, see how it feels. We can find some pants or something if necessary. I think you’ll be fine, as long as you aren’t wearing a thong.”  
Nayeon regretted her underwear choice that day.  
Anxiously, the brunette made her way onto the stage to practice her duet.   
When she reached the stage, she saw that Sana was already there, in her costume, sat on the bed. The Japanese girl was sat on the edge of the grimy bed. Her eyes were focussed on the floor as she repeatedly pulled her hair back into a ponytail and then let her long locks fall gracefully back onto her shoulders.   
She looked handsome.  
Sana’s costume consisted of an army uniform, a plain, dark green shirt that was tucked into her matching trousers and heavy boots. She had rolled up the sleeves and left the top two buttons of her shirt undone. Nayeon gulped.  
“Leave your hair down, it looks more natural,” Nayeon said, somehow managing to keep her voice steady.   
Sana’s eyes looked up from the floor and locked onto Nayeon’s figure as she stepped from the wings into the bright lights of the stage. The older girl’s heart began to race when Sana looked her up and down. The Japanese girl bit her lip and rubbed her neck in the place which had once been marked by a hickey.  
It had been just over a week since Sana had saved Nayeon and had come out all in the same night. A week since Nayeon had kissed Sana on her couch. A week since they very nearly got carried away.   
Judging by Sana’s dark expression, Nayeon guessed that they were both thinking about the same memory.  
This would also mark the first time since that happened that Sana and Nayeon actually interacted with each other. They had managed to avoid rehearsing the duet again since the last time (which Nayeon thought was a miracle considering how meticulous Jeongyeon had become) and Nayeon had a sneaky suspicion that Sana was avoiding her. Of course, she was kind of avoiding the Japanese girl too. Nayeon had never been a position like this before and wasn’t sure how to deal with it. The situation was obviously complicated by Nayeon’s resentment of Sana’s past actions, even though she was trying to move past that.  
Awkwardly, Nayeon walked forwards and crouched by the bed, ready to start the duet.   
“Remember to look at me as if I’m the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen,” Nayeon muttered to the younger girl. Sana stared down at the older girl with an intensity that made her blush.  
“Okay,” she whispered.   
The music began, making Nayeon jump. Things started off well. Sana brushed Nayeon’s face at the right time, she kissed her fingers gently as she was supposed to. Nayeon returned the gesture, getting one of the most intimate parts out of the way as quickly as she could.   
Everything was going well, they performed the duet as they had rehearsed it. They looked at each other at the right times, smiled at the right times and laughed at the right times. But there was a tension that Nayeon couldn’t shake. Perhaps it was due to way that Sana would stare at her legs. Perhaps it was the way her fingers brushed her hips for a second too long.   
It came to the lift.  
As expected, Nayeon ran towards the younger girl and launched herself into her waiting arms. Sana caught her with practiced ease.  
A cold breeze caressed Nayeon’s ass. She could feel Sana’s soft hand on her skin.   
Nayeon really hoped that what she thought was happening wasn’t happening.  
When Sana put Nayeon down, her eyes glanced down to the older girl’s crotch and her eyes widened comically.   
While continuing to sing, Nayeon glanced down.  
Her shirt had ridden up. Of course it had. Her shirt had ridden up giving the whole audience a good view of her pink and white polka-dotted thong.   
Nayeon seriously regretted her underwear choice that day, like, seriously.  
The song finally finished.   
Sana reached forward and tugged Nayeon’s shirt down, clearing her throat loudly.   
Blushing redder than a tomato, the brunette looked out into the auditorium.  
Her eyes were drawn to the place where little Chaeyoung was sat. The poor girl was frozen in her seat. Dahyun was in the process of shoving a tampon up the short girl’s nose.  
“Well, I think we need to invest in some pants,” Jeongyeon remarked loudly.  
“No fucking shit,” Nayeon shouted back.

Having changed back into her school uniform, Nayeon made her way over to place in the auditorium where Jeongyeon was stood with Sana with a strange look on her face.  
“Well?” Nayeon asked as she reached the pair, putting her hands on her hips and avoiding Sana’s gaze, “How was it? Better than last time, right? Other than the wardrobe malfunction, of course.”  
Jeongyeon hummed, she tapped her pen against her lips.  
“It was better,” she agreed. Nayeon smiled smugly. “But it was still a bit awkward. Everything looked too placed, like you were going through the motions. You looked like two actors playing a part and not like real people, which is what we want you to look like.”  
Nayeon’s smile quickly turned into a frown.  
“There were moments of greatness,” the director commented, “when you looked like you were genuinely into each other and all that crap. There were moments when you, Sana, would glance at Nayeon when you weren’t looking and it’s that kind of stuff that makes the duet more believable.”  
Out of the corner of her eye, Nayeon could have sworn that she saw the Japanese girl blush.  
Jeongyeon continued, “But there’s still a weird awkwardness in the scene. It’s too awkward and looks too rehearsed. We can’t have that. So, I have a project for the two of you.”  
Nayeon perked up, curious about what her friend would suggest.  
“I want the two of you to… spend some time together. Like, go out for coffee or something. Reconnect. Get to know each other better. Hopefully some of the awkwardness will dissipate after some time together,” Jeongyeon said carefully, almost as if she was expecting Nayeon or Sana to explode.  
Nayeon remained silent, processing the words. She wasn’t sure how to feel. Part of her was seriously pissed off, she had told Jeongyeon about what had happened between the two of them the previous week. She hadn’t mentioned Sana’s confession, it wasn’t her secret to tell, but she was sure that if Jihyo hadn’t already told her, Jeongyeon probably filled in the gaps herself. But, her heart leaped at the idea of going out with Sana. And, from a professional point of view, Nayeon could see how Jeongyeon thought that it might help alleviate the awkwardness.  
“You want us to go on a date?” Sana asked slowly.   
“Not a date, per se,” Jeongyeon said awkwardly, “Just two actors meeting to get to know each other for the sake of their art.”  
And with that, Jeongyeon walked back to her girlfriend.  
Nayeon looked at the Japanese girl helplessly.  
“I’m free Wednesday after school,” Sana said monotonously.   
“Okay, um, cool,” Nayeon spluttered, “Are you sure?”  
Sana gave her a funny look.  
“It’s not like we’re actually going on a date, Nayeon,” she said, her voice raising in pitch, “We’re just getting to know each other better so it won’t be so awkward between us.”  
She wrote her number down on a scrap piece of paper. The name of an independent coffee shop that Nayeon had been meaning to try out was scribbled underneath.  
“Meet me there at four on Wednesday,” Sana commanded. She winked, “I’ll pay.”  
The younger girl walked off, flicking her dark hair over her shoulder gracefully. Nayeon watched her go with an open mouth. She stared down at the piece of paper in her hand.  
She felt a person appear behind her, looking over her shoulder.  
Momo laughed into Nayeon’s ear.  
“Not a date my ass,”   
Nayeon slapped her arm.

Jeongyeon returned to her seat in the auditorium. She pressed a quick kiss on the cheek of the girl sat beside her.  
“How’d it go?” Jihyo asked.  
“Fine. I think they’re arranging to have coffee together,” the older girl replied.  
“They didn’t suspect anything?”  
“I told them that their performance was awkward,” said Jeongyeon.  
“But that was the best they’ve ever done it! Even with the wardrobe malfunction!” her girlfriend exclaimed. Jeongyeon put a finger on her lips and hushed her.  
“I don’t know if Nayeon fully bought it so keep it down,” she whispered. She felt Jihyo’s smile against her finger. Her girlfriend pressed a soft kiss against it.  
Jeongyeon glanced over to where Nayeon was stood staring at a piece of paper. She flicked her eyes over to where Sana was fawning over how handsome Tzuyu looked in a suit. She scoffed.  
“I can’t believe that we’ve sank low enough to try setting them up with each other,” she laughed quietly. Jihyo chuckled in return.  
“Yeah, well they weren’t gonna to do it by themselves. They’re too stubborn,” the younger girl replied.  
“Good job they have God Jihyo looking over them,”  
“Isn’t it just.”

“Do I look okay?” Momo asked her best friend and twirled for her.   
“Yeah, you look great,” Nayeon said sincerely, “Seriously, you look super cute.”  
Momo looked down at the ground, focussing on her black and white tap shoes, and smiled shyly. She wore a cute yellow dress which mimicked the one worn by Mia in La la land. She had put in a pair of contact lenses, dancing in glasses is an absolute pain in the ass, and removed her hair band.   
“You really think so?” she asked again. Nayeon rolled her eyes playfully.  
“Yes, I do. Now stop being shy Hirai, get on that stage and dance with your girl before Sana steals her,” the older girl said. Momo looked up and grinned mischievously.  
“You mean dance with my girl before your girl steals her,” the Japanese girl said.  
“Yah!” Nayeon shouted and shoved her friend in Tzuyu’s direction.  
Shyly, Momo approached the tall girl, taking in her appearance. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a thick strand of hair framed her startlingly pretty face. She wore a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and dark trousers. She was currently in the process of putting her tie on.   
Tzuyu was stood fumbling with her tie by herself. It seemed that Mina had dragged Sana away from the tall girl and was making her look at Dahyun and Chaeyoung instead (who also looked very handsome in their uniforms for their ‘Descendants of the Sun’ piece).   
Suddenly very conscious of her bare shoulders, Momo wrapped her arms around her body and walked up to the tall girl awkwardly. She let out a short greeting which drew Tzuyu’s attention away from her tie. The younger girl’s eyes widened and a warm smile spread on her face.  
“You look beautiful,” she whispered.   
Blushing, Momo wordlessly took the younger girl’s tie into her hands and finished off the knot.   
“Ready for our date tonight? If you’re still up for it?” the Japanese girl asked nervously.  
“Of course I am. I’m a bit nervous though,” she admitted.  
“It’s just me,” Momo said softly.  
She looked up at Tzuyu’s dark eyes.  
“So handsome,” she found herself saying.   
Strong arms wrapped around Momo’s body. She in turn wrapped her own arms around Tzuyu’s waist, pulling her closer into a soft hug. Momo turned her head to press her cheek against the taller girl’s collar bone. She inhaled her scent and felt herself go weak at the knees.  
“My girl,”  
“My guy,”  
As they said the words at the same time, the two girls pulled apart slightly to gaze at each other. Momo laughed and returned her cheek to its original spot on Tzuyu’s chest. She looked up at her jaw.  
“You smell really good,” she found herself mumbling into her neck.  
The moment was ruined by Jeongyeon’s loud voice.  
“Stop being disgustingly cute and get up on stage, you big pair of gays,” she shouted. Momo pulled out of the hug and smiled up at the laughing girl in front of her. The older girl turned towards Jeongyeon’s place in the theatre.  
“You’re gayer!” she shouted in reply. Momo took Tzuyu’s hand, giggling to herself, and lead her towards the stage.  
“I’m bisexual, thank you very much,” came the reply which Momo barely heard. She was too focussed on the feeling of soft fingers entwining with her own.

Momo walked out of the cinema with a dopey grin on her face and girl’s hand in her own.   
The first part of her date with Tzuyu had gone down extremely well.   
The two girls had gone through their usual routine of having coffee together in the café of Momo’s dance school, since she always had dance class on a Monday. Like usual, Tzuyu had kissed Momo on the cheek and turned her into a blushing mess. Although this time she waited in the café for Momo to finish and, once she had got changed out of her dancewear, set off to the cinema with her not-quite-girlfriend.   
The older girl thought to herself that going to the cinema with Tzuyu had been great idea. They watched the latest blockbuster together and had a wonderful time. The theatre was practical empty, with it being a Monday evening and all. Momo had been able to lean into the tall girl all the way through the movie without worrying that they would disturb other people, or have other people disturb them. When the credits began to roll, Momo had raised her head to look up at the younger girl and had seen her staring down at her. Momo was sure that they almost shared their first kiss with one another at that moment, but Tzuyu had kissed Momo’s forehead instead. The Japanese girl wasn’t disappointed though; to her, any kiss was better than no kiss.   
Being the romantic that she was, Momo began to lead the other girl towards the river. Walking alongside the river and talking was a great thing to do on a first date, right?  
But Tzuyu seemed to have other ideas.  
“Come on, I want to show you something,” she said with a gentle smile. She pulled the Japanese girl in the opposite direction. Momo would have followed her anywhere.  
Their walk lead them to the outskirts of the city where there was large building with a dome on top.  
“The planetarium?” Momo asked, confused.  
“Observatory, actually,” Tzuyu corrected, “I booked us onto a viewing session.”  
The taller girl looked down shyly.  
“I used to come here a lot when I was little. My dad is super into astronomy. But he’s so busy with work nowadays that I started coming by myself to see the planetarium and do some stargazing. And, I want to share this with you,” Tzuyu revealed quietly, her thumb rubbed Momo’s hand. The Japanese girl thought that she might just melt into a little gay puddle. “I really like you,” the younger girl whispered.   
Instinctively, Momo hugged her and pressed her face into Tzuyu’s coat, inhaling her scent.  
“I really like you too,” she replied and gently kissed her cheek. “Now let’s go look at some stars.”

Having star-gazed together (with the help of one of the people who worked at the observatory), Momo and Tzuyu made their way into the planetarium which was, of course, completely empty.   
They stood side by side in the middle of the theatre and looked up to where a picture of the stars was projected on the screen.  
“It’s not as beautiful as the real thing, is it?” Momo asked breathlessly, looking up the projected universe.  
“Maybe not,” the tall girl replied.  
The stars on the screen began to move. Classical music began to play. A deep voice began to describe the solar system. Momo focussed on the music. Subconsciously, her body began to sway in time to the music. Smiling to her herself, she took a step behind Tzuyu and put one hand on her waist, the other into Tzuyu’s open palm.  
“Dance with me,” she whispered. She took a step backwards, beginning to lead them into a waltz. Elegantly, she spun the taller girl round so that they were facing each other. Tzuyu’s hand came to rest on Momo’s shoulder.   
“I’ve never waltzed before,” Tzuyu whispered.  
“Follow my lead,” Momo replied, equally as softly. A gentle chuckle left Tzuyu’s lips that made Momo automatically feel shy.  
“Shouldn’t I be leading since I’m taller,” she said.  
“Hush,”  
Momo swept the taller girl into a spin. They waltzed together to the planetarium’s music.  
It was a bit awkward at first, with Tzuyu not really knowing what she was doing and the height difference making things harder, but they quickly got into the swing of things.   
They danced together like there was no tomorrow. They glided across the floor, dodging the theatre’s chairs. They span down the aisles and only separated their bodies when Momo would spin the other girl.  
The music came to finish along with the planetarium’s show.  
The two girls collapsed into their seats.   
Momo glanced at the other girl, her heart pounding in her chest, and grinned. Tzuyu grinned back, her cheeks flushed red. After a moment, she burst out laughing.  
“This is just like ‘la la land’,” she said jovially.  
“It is?” Momo asked, “I haven’t actually watched it.”  
“Yeah, for their first date they go to the cinema and then break into the planetarium. They dance amongst the stars and then share their first kiss, very romantic,” Tzuyu explained. Momo felt herself blush at the mere mention of the word “kiss”.  
“It’s not the same though,” Momo said, “We didn’t break into here and we actually got to do some real star-gazing and we haven’t kissed.” She mumbled the last part.  
“Maybe we should change that,” Momo barely heard the whispered words that from Tzuyu.  
The younger girl leant closer. Anxiously, Momo began to close the gap.  
Their lips where inches apart when Momo’s stomach rumbled loudly.  
Still close together, the Japanese girl announced, “I’m hungry.”  
She pulled away shyly and put her hand over her stomach in thought.  
“Wanna go get some food?”

They found themselves in Momo’s favourite restaurant eating jokbal.   
They chatted away to themselves, laughing together.  
Momo had spotted the owner of the restaurant watching her loyal customer with a proud smile. It made her feel shy.  
She shovelled another piece of her favourite food into her mouth and felt a bit of sauce drip down the corner of her mouth. Tzuyu’s eyes followed the sauce and she laughed.   
“You’re so messy, Momo!” she exclaimed.   
The Japanese girl swallowed her food and adorably frowned. Feeling bold, that frown turned into a smirk.  
“Why don’t you clean it up for me?” she asked flirtatiously.   
Tzuyu returned Momo’s challenging look and smiled back.  
She lightly grabbed the older girl’s chin and brought her face closer.  
Momo’s mind was screaming “Abort mission! Abort mission!”  
Tzuyu leant forwards and quickly licked the drop of sauce. She pulled back, looking smug.  
“Better?”  
Flustered, Momo nodded.  
Smiling in delight because of how flustered the other girl had become, Tzuyu leant forwards to kiss Momo’s chin where the drop of sauce had previously been. At the same time, the Japanese girl moved her head backwards to try to escape Tzuyu’s grasp.  
The Taiwanese girl missed her mark as the target moved away from her, and she fell forwards onto Momo’s face. Her pouted lips landed on the corner of the other girl’s mouth.  
With an uncharacteristic squeak, Tzuyu pulled away.  
Momo looked at the other girl, her mind went blank. Oddly, she felt quite proud of herself.  
“Ah, Tzuyu-yah. I think you just fell for me,” she remarked. Tzuyu shot her a dirty look. “Was that our first kiss?” Momo couldn’t help but ask.  
Embarrassed, Tzuyu focussed on her plate of food.  
“Can we pretend that it wasn’t?” she asked shyly, “I wanted our first kiss to be romantic.”  
“Aw, Tzuyu!” Momo cooed, “So cute.”  
They finished the rest of their food quickly, Momo was quite eager to give the younger girl the romantic kiss that she deserved.  
The Japanese girl threw their payment, plus a tip, onto the table and dragged Tzuyu outside of the establishment.   
Right on cue, the heavens opened.  
“The sky was perfectly clear, earlier,” Tzuyu commented grumpily, pulling her hood up.   
Grinning, the older girl turned to face her and laughed.  
“This is perfect!” she exclaimed.  
“It is?”  
“What’s more romantic than a kiss in the rain?” Momo asked happily. Tzuyu tilted her head and blushed.   
“But what-“  
Her question was cut off by Momo gently kissing her lips.  
The Japanese girl lowered her heels and pulled away.  
“Was that okay?” she asked shyly.  
Nodding, the taller girl pulled Momo back against her with a smile. She put her hands onto the shorter girl’s hips. She kissed her softly.   
Smiling against Tzuyu’s soft lips, Momo wrapped her arms around the other girl’s neck.  
It was perfect.  
They kissed each other chastely and lovingly while the rain crashed around them.   
They pulled away with a gasp.  
“Let me walk you home,” Momo said.  
“Okay,” the younger girl replied.  
And so, hand in hand, the two girls walked together in the rain. 

It had seemed like a nice morning when Sana had woken up. The air was crisp and cool. The wind smelt like fresh rain. There were a few puddles on the ground. But other than that, it was quite nice for a Tuesday morning.  
As usual, Sana arrived at school early so that she could sort out some student council things. Both her and Mina had been forced to do their student council work before school since they were rehearsing almost every lunch time. It wasn’t ideal, but Sana had her duty and she’d do whatever was needed to stay afloat.  
While sat in the office at Jihyo’s desk, Sana heard a knock at the door.   
She assumed that it must have been her Japanese friend. She thought it was odd of her to knock, but perhaps she didn’t want to disturb her or something like that. Mina had always been thoughtful like.  
“Come in,” Sana shouted at the closed door.   
It opened up and a boy walked in. It was the last boy she wanted to see, her ex.  
“What do you want?” Sana asked.  
“I need a word,” he said darkly as he closed the door behind him and walked up to the desk.  
Feeling uncomfortable having the boy looming over her, Sana stood up and leant against the wall, her arms folded.  
“Quickly,” she snapped, “I meant what I said last time we met. I’m not afraid to punch you again.”  
The boy snorted, “You wouldn’t dare. You wouldn’t dare risk suspension so close to that stupid theatre club show.”  
Sana bristled and clenched her jaw. He was too right.   
“Well?” Sana demanded, “You aren’t just here to stare at me, are you?”  
The boy laughed.  
“No,” he said, “I need a favour.”  
“I don’t owe you anything,” it was Sana’s turn to laugh, “If anyone owes anyone anything, it’s you that owes me for what you did to Nayeon.”  
“No,” the boy said again, “If you remember, I know your secret.”  
Sana’s blood ran cold. Her body stiffened and the colour drained from her face.   
“What is it you want?” she asked.  
Her ex smirked and flicked his floppy hair out of his eyes.  
“I need you to date me again,” he said.  
“What? No! Ew,” Sana immediately rejected the idea.  
The boy suddenly looked a bit concerned.  
“It wouldn’t be real!” he exclaimed suddenly. Sana stared at her ex quizzically. He sighed.  
“I should explain,” he said, “After you hit me, rumours went around. The story that people stuck to was that I cheated on you and now everyone thinks I’m a cheater. So I want you to get back with me, or at least pretend to date me while we’re in school. I won’t make you kiss me or anything, I just need you to tell people that I didn’t cheat on you and that it was your idea for us to get back together.”  
Sana frowned and pressed her lips together.  
The boy continued, “And then after a week or so, we’d break up. I’ll break up with you at school where everyone can see and then I’ll leave you alone.”  
“This will damage my reputation, won’t it?” Sana stated darkly. Her ex snorted.  
“Wouldn’t revealing your sexuality do more damage?” he asked patronisingly.  
“Are you threatening me?”  
“It’s not a threat if I mean it,” the boy sneered.   
He got a shock when Sana laughed.  
“Do you really think the school will believe you? They’ll think it’s revenge for me punching you,” she smirked back at him, feigning confidence. The boy pursed his lips for a moment.  
“Perhaps the school won’t. But your parents might,” he said calmly, “Do you really want to find out?”  
Sana stiffened when her parents were mentioned.   
Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she didn’t want her parents to find out. Was her new found freedom more important than keeping her sexuality from her parents?   
Sana sighed. She couldn’t risk it.   
“Fine,” she whispered.   
The boy smiled happily, looking a lot more innocent.   
“You won’t regret it!” he said, way too happily.  
Sana looked down at the ground and bit her lip.  
She knew that she would.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took so long to write and I don't even have a reason why.  
> But anyway, I finally completed it.
> 
> This chapter is basically, almost pure sanayeon. So yeah, enjoy.
> 
> Also, I realised that I probably use some British phrases and slang and whatnot when I'm writing so if there's anything confusing, don't hesitate to ask.
> 
> Once again, thanks for all the comments and kudos and feel free to comment as you please.

Watching from behind her locker door, Nayeon glared at the boy who was holding Sana’s hand.  
Nayeon couldn’t believe it.  
Minatozoki Sana, who had just recently come out to her friends, was holding hands with her ex-boyfriend, who she punched a couple of weeks ago.  
Nayeon was completely bamboozled by this sudden development.  
The two had gone from completely ignoring each other to walking down the school’s hallway giggling at each other in a way that made Nayeon want to throw up. It made no sense.  
Her best friend watched the pair walk past as well and hummed.  
Grumpily, Nayeon slammed her locker door shut and violently slung her rucksack over her shoulder with a huff. Momo took a step back from her friend, her eyes widening in surprise.  
“What’s got you in a huff?” she asked dumbly.  
Nayeon simply glared at her friend.  
“Take a wild guess,” she spat. Momo raised her hands up innocently.  
“Okay, I know you’re projecting so I’ll try not to be offended,” she mumbled under hear breath.  
Nayeon heard her mumbled words and flushed. She apologised to her best friend for snapping at her. Momo beamed and engulfed her pal in a hug.  
After Momo pulled away, a tall person came up behind the Japanese girl and hugged her back. Grinning like a maniac, Momo turned to give Tzuyu a chaste kiss. It was probably supposed to land on her cheek, but the older girl’s lips grazed her jawline instead.  
Nayeon cringed at the couple to mask the smile that the couple put on her face.  
“Enough with the pda,” Nayeon groaned.  
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Sana giving that damn boy a quick peck on the lips. The sight of it made Nayeon bristle in a way that was very unfamiliar.  
She scoffed.  
“At least you two are cute together,” she muttered. She spotted Momo blush shyly at the compliment.  
Another tall person came up behind Nayeon. She jumped out of her skin when they spoke.  
“I take it you’ve heard the big news around school,” Jeongyeon said, sounding rather amused.  
Nayeon turned and slapped the taller girl’s arm, earning a glare off Jihyo who was beside her girlfriend.  
“Big news?” the oldest girl asked, “Are you referring to Sana getting back together with that douchebag?”  
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Jihyo announced awkwardly. She quickly kissed her girlfriend on the cheek and rushed off. Jeongyeon looked very flustered by the sudden kiss. Nayeon thought it was sweet how she still got flustered by pda.  
“I am surrounded by couples,” Nayeon groaned dramatically, she slammed her back against the lockers and threw her arms out against them.  
“Not for much longer,” Tzuyu said nonchalantly and grabbed her girlfriend’s hand. The tall girl pulled Momo away from the lockers and off to god knows where. The couple waved gleefully to Nayeon who stuck her middle finger up at them. Jeongyeon laughed loudly.  
“Jealous?” she asked teasingly.  
“Of what? Of Momo and Tzuyu being in a healthy and loving relationship? Or are you referring to the dick who Sana is dating again? Either way, it’s a big fat no,” Nayeon said far too loudly considering that she was stood in a busy corridor. “Anyway, how did you know that they’re together?”  
“Sana told Jihyo about everything last night,” Jeongyeon revealed.  
“And then she told you?”  
“No! Jihyo doesn’t spill people’s secrets like that. I just happened to be in the room when Sana called and Jihyo accidently put her on speaker,” the younger girl said with conspiratorial smirk, which was returned by a smirk of Nayeon’s own.  
Nayeon slammed her head back onto the lockers and sighed loudly.  
“It just makes no sense,” she said dramatically, “Sana told him that she’s y’know and we know that she’s not interested in him. And she fucking punched him the other day, so why has she got back together with him?”  
“Maybe the situation is more complicated than you think it is,” Jeongyeon said quietly and calmly.  
Nayeon froze and scowled. She turned to face the younger girl slowly.  
“Explain,” she demanded.  
Jeongyeon merely smiled lazily and shrugged.  
“I dunno. I just think that this isn’t what you think it is,” the girl laughed, “Maybe you should ask her when you go do the homework I set for you.”  
Nayeon blushed and grimaced, too focussed on Jeongyeon’s final statement to consider what she had previously said.  
Jeongyeon winked cheekily and sauntered off.  
The brunette watched her go. With a final huff, she set off to class.  
She definitely wasn’t looking forward to having to go out with Sana later that day.

The day flew by, much to Nayeon’s surprise, and Nayeon found herself stood outside of the coffee shop that Sana had suggested they meet at. She was about ten minutes early.  
The brunette leant against the wall a few paces down from the door and tried not to look suspicious in any way. She pulled out her phone from her pocket and saw a text from Momo saying “Good luck on your date ;)”. Nayeon sent back a snarky reply.  
She opened up her Instagram. The very first picture that came up was a selfie of Sana and her boyfriend. It had clearly been taken in school, Nayeon recognised those desolate grey walls. Sana was smiling brightly, beautifully, and the boy had a serious look on his face, but the raised eyebrow showed that he was feigning seriousness.  
Nayeon growled out loud and shut down the app, not even bothering to read the caption. She shoved her phone back into her pocket with a huff.  
She waited for another ten minutes or so.  
The brunette caught a glimpse of a figure with dark hair. She could just about make out what this person was wearing, skinny jeans, a white blouse and a checked blazer. The sound of her heeled boots clacking against the pavement rang out all around.  
Sana stopped in front of Nayeon and sank into her hip, placing her hands into her pockets.  
She looked like a model.  
Nayeon felt a little underdressed in her ripped jeans and baggy t-shirt. At least her coat was warm, Sana must have been freezing.  
“Been waiting long?” the Japanese girl asked.  
“Uh, not really,” Nayeon lied awkwardly. A smile graced Sana’s face.  
“You could have gone into the café, you know,” she said teasingly. Nayeon’s cold cheeks heated up.  
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want you to think that I was ditching you or something,” she replied indignantly.  
“You have my number, don’t you?” Sana pointed out with a short laugh. Nayeon grit her teeth.  
“You said you’d pay,” Nayeon accused the younger girl and then smiled sweetly.  
Sana looked slightly taken aback for a second. She laughed awkwardly and then gestured to the door.  
“Shall we?”  
She held out her arm to the older graciously. Nayeon eyed it with suspicion. What on Earth was this girl playing at? With a roll of her eyes, she wrapped her arm around the other’s elbow.  
They walked into the café with entwined arms.

As they stood in the (short) queue, Nayeon had a proper look around the place.  
The café was quiet, only a few of the tables were occupied, most by students studying by themselves but there was a table that a few boys were sat at, laughing loudly.  
Soft, indie music flooded the café, giving it a comfortable atmosphere.  
Portraits lined the brick walls. The ones closer to the front windows were typical portraits, Audrey Hepburn, David Bowie, some other historical figures. Towards the back of the shop were less typical pictures. There were photos of the stonewall riots, lgbt movie posters, portraits of drag queens and posters decorated with rainbows and phrases such as “love is blind”.  
Nayeon’s eyes were drawn to one of the patrons of the café. It was a girl in the uniform of the nearby private school. She was reading a book, although Nayeon couldn’t see what it was. What drew Nayeon’s eyes to her was the small rainbow pin on the lapel of her blazer. Also, she was stupidly pretty.  
Surprised, Nayeon turned to the girl who was still holding her arm.  
“Sana, is this a gay café?” she asked, failing to hide the excitement in her voice. Sana stuttered.  
The woman behind the counter clearly overheard. She laughed, flicking her pinkish hair over her shoulder.  
“Officially, no,” the woman said, “But I left my wife in charge of decorations and this happened,” She gestured to the rainbow bunting that was on top of the coffee machine.  
Nayeon let out a chuckle. The woman smiled kindly.  
“In all seriousness though, we opened this café as a place that accepts people from all walks of life and of all sexualities and identities. My wife and I never had a safe space, so we hoped that our café could be one if necessary,” she said with a decisive nod. “Isn’t that right babe?” she asked the woman who emerged from a room behind the counter.  
The other woman puffed her cheeks out like a hamster and looked a bit confused. She held a bunch of files in her arms. She reached out and pinched the pink haired woman’s chubby cheek with a grin.  
“Sure thing,” she agreed, clearly not knowing what she was agreeing to. The woman with the files looked at Nayeon and Sana with a bit of scrutiny. She smirked, screwing up her nose.  
“Hey, Sana,” she greeted informally, “Nice to see you again. Mina and Jihyo not with you today?”  
Nayeon watched Sana shake her head, her long, dark hair followed her movements.  
Nayeon returned her gaze back to the two women behind the counter who seemed to be watching her fondly. The hamster-like woman smirked again and nodded.  
“Ah, I see. I’ll leave you two to it,” she winked and then climbed over the counter to go sit at a table by the window.  
The brunette watched her go curiously. She turned back to Sana and noticed the redness which covered her cheeks.  
It was soon their turn to order.  
The cashier was a girl who seemed to be younger than Sana and Nayeon. Her reddish-brown hair was tied in pigtails and she had a dazzlingly bright smile than made Nayeon want to squish her cute little cheeks.  
Sana ordered herself a coffee and then turned to Nayeon.  
“What do you want?” she asked, the warmth in her voice surprised the brunette. Panicking, Nayeon looked up to the board which displayed the shop’s goods and prices and ordered the first thing she saw. A flat white. Nayeon didn’t even know what a flat white was.  
Sana paid for their drinks, like she said she would.  
The pink haired woman, who Nayeon finally realised must have been the owner of the café, promised to have her cashier bring their drinks over. 

Sana and Nayeon sat awkwardly at a table at the back of the café. Nayeon was the first to break the silence.  
“So you must come here quite often for the owners to know your name, huh?”  
Sana looked down at the table with a blush.  
“Mina and Jihyo dragged me here one day. Sometimes we come and do school council work in here if we don’t want to do it at school. I’ve started coming to study here when I don’t feel like going home,” she revealed.  
Nayeon pursed her lips and nodded.  
The cashier girl approached their table with the two girl’s drinks. Having put them on the table she stared directly at Nayeon and then gasped.  
“You’re Im Nayeon,” she said.  
“Yes?” Nayeon replied, she could have sworn that she had never seen this girl before in her life. The girl smiled brightly and made a cute squealing noise.  
“Wow! I’ve been wanting to meet you for ages! I think it’s super awesome how you started an lgbt society at your school. I go to the private school and we don’t have one there and I just think that you are super cool and brave and pretty,” she burst out at one hundred miles per hour.  
Completely taken by surprise, Nayeon blinked up at the short girl and attempted to smile at her, but it was probably more of a grimace. The brunette thanked the girl awkwardly, deciding to ignore Sana’s giggle.  
With a pleased smile, the cashier picked the tray up off the table and bowed politely.  
“You two are a very cute couple,” she said softly.  
Sana’s eyes widened. Nayeon spluttered.  
The girl skipped off before either of them could deny being together.  
Shocked, Nayeon watched the girl go. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud when the girl tripped up over her own feet having seen the girl with the book and the rainbow pin wink at her.  
The brunette turned her attention back to the Japanese girl sat opposite her, who was currently taking pictures of their coffees.  
“Taking pictures for Instagram, are we?” she asked bitterly, “Are you going to pretend that you’re on a date with your boyfriend?”  
Sana visibly grimaced and then laughed sourly.  
“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” she said.  
The Japanese girl sat typing into her phone. Nayeon checked the time on her own phone. She watched the girl opposite her tap her fingers against the screen with annoyance. She couldn’t believe that Sana going to sit there on her phone when they had set out on this not-a-date date so that they could actually talk to each other.  
Jealously, Nayeon asked, “Who are you texting?”  
Sana looked up from her phone looking a bit startled. She rolled her eyes.  
“My boyfriend, obviously,”  
The brunette bristled and scoffed loudly. She picked up her coffee (which she still wasn’t sure about what it actually was) and took an intentionally loud sip.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the Japanese girl demanded. Nayeon set her coffee down on the table and raised her eyebrow.  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about it,” she said innocently.  
“The scoffing and slurping and judgey look,” Sana exclaimed, her voice starting to raise slightly. The private school girl with the book glanced over to the table. As did the café owner’s wife.  
“I think the word you’re looking for is judgmental,” Nayeon retorted childishly.  
The brunette secretly enjoyed the way that Sana bit her lip and stared back at her coldly.  
“I think the word you’re looking for is I don’t give a shit,” the Japanese girl replied loudly.  
Nayeon met the other girl’s gaze and took another sip of her coffee (which was fantastic by the way). She knew that the other girl was watching her every move. She licked a bit of foam off her upper lip. Sana’s eyes dropped down to Nayeon’s lips. Her face darkened into a familiar expression. Nayeon could see Sana’s chest rising and falling at an increasing pace. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks.  
“Don’t look at me like that,” Nayeon grumbled, looking into her coffee, or anywhere but Sana.  
“I-I’m not,” Sana stuttered, clearly losing her bravado.  
Silence engulfed the table. Sana put her phone down gently on the coffee table and sipped at her own coffee (although Nayeon wasn’t sure that a white chocolate and raspberry mocha could really be counted as a coffee). Nayeon tried her very best not to look at Sana as she set her drink back down on the table, licking her lips slowly. She failed.  
Sana sighed loudly.  
“This is about me getting back together with my ex, isn’t it?” she phrased the question more like a statement. Nayeon looked up with a scowl. Was is not obvious?  
“No shit, Sherlock,” she answered bitterly. Much to Nayeon’s dismay, Sana’s lips curved up into a smirk.  
“What? Jealous?” she mocked.  
“Of that greasy-haired weasel-faced dickhead? No! Of course not!” the brunette vehemently denied, rather unconvincingly. Sana tapped her fingers against the table.  
“I’m just confused, that’s all,” Nayeon said, her voice much calmer and quieter.  
The smirk dropped off the younger girl’s face. Her mouth formed a small ‘O’.  
Taking this as a cue to explain herself further, Nayeon continued.  
“I’m just confused. Only a week or so ago, you punched that guy. You broke up with him for a reason. And now, a week after you fucking punched him, you’re dating him again! It makes no sense!” Nayeon’s voice began to get louder and louder. She was aware of the café’s patrons and staff looking over at the table with curiosity and worry, but she didn’t care anymore.  
“There’s more to it than that,” Sana said quietly, looking around the café and avoiding Nayeon’s gaze. A wave of emotions that Nayeon wasn’t aware she had trapped inside burst out suddenly.  
“Oh yeah?” she exclaimed loudly, “Care to explain? Because the way it looks from where I’m sitting is that you’ve shoved yourself back into the closet because you’re too afraid of admitting that you like girls and that you maybe might have feelings for me. I’m not stupid, Sana. You came out, we kissed and now you’re dating the boy you came out to. Well, you might as well break it off now. You’re gay, Sana, and no dick is going to change that! You’re a les. Bi. An.”  
Nayeon took a deep breath as she finished her anger fuelled speech. The café was silent, save for the indie music that played in the background. Sana stared back at her with glistening eyes.  
“Called it!” a voice shouted from the front of the café.  
“Byulyi!” the pink-haired owner scolded.  
Shamefully, Nayeon stared at her drink and shrank into herself, hoping that the café patrons would turn their attention away.  
The owner turned up the music, loud enough that Sana and Nayeon could probably talk with less eavesdropping going on. Nayeon was very grateful for that.  
The Japanese girl sniffled, looking like she was trying to keep her tears from falling.  
“You really want to know why I got back with him?” she whispered darkly. She looked up to the ceiling and inhaled loudly. “The truth is that we’re not even really dating.”  
“You certainly seemed like you were dating when I saw you earlier,” Nayeon muttered, her chest still heaving from her previous outburst.  
“Yeah, well, I must be a better actress than you give me credit for,” the younger retorted. Nayeon scowled. She already thought that Sana was talented. Sana continued to speak in a hushed tone, “He asked me to pretend to date him so that his reputation would get better after the cheating rumours. He said that he’d tell my parents about my sexuality if I refused.”  
“You mean he blackmailed you?” Nayeon exclaimed, feeling defensive, “He threatened to out you to your parents if you didn’t do what he said.”  
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Sana laughed with a grimace. The brunette blushed when she realised what the younger girl was referring to. Her blood was boiling. Speaking from experience, being publicly outed was not fun, and Nayeon wouldn’t wish it on anyone.  
“That fucking bastard!” the older swore loudly over the top of the music. Book girl looked at the table again with wide eyes. Nayeon smiled apologetically. She took another sip of her coffee to calm herself down.  
“I’m sorry I assumed the worst,” Nayeon apologised shyly, staring at her pretty coffee mug. Sana tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.  
“I think you have every right to,” she mumbled, only just loud enough for the brunette to hear. She wasn’t sure why she said, but Nayeon found herself admitting something to the younger girl.  
“I was jealous,” she said quietly, “Seeing that guy put his greasy hands all over you and kissing you rubbed me up the wrong way and I was jealous.”  
Sana’s reply was a simple, “Oh.”  
The two girls locked eyes. Nayeon smiled shyly and sipped at her drink in an attempt to hide her growing blush. Sana stared at the older girl for a while in silence then smirked.  
“Why is it our interactions almost always end with one of us crying or with us kissing?”  
“Or both. Usually both,” Nayeon added instead of answering. Sana chuckled.  
Suddenly, the older girl brightened up. She knocked back the dregs of her drink and put the mug back on the table with a bright smile.  
“Why don’t we change that?” she said, “How about this, I’ll go buy us another coffee or stupidly sweet thing- “  
“Excuse me, white chocolate and raspberry mochas are a type of coffee and they actually taste good.”  
“Okay, sweetie, if you say so,” Nayeon laughed at the interruption and then continued with her offer, “How about I go buy us another drink and then we start this again. No kissing. No tears. Deal?”  
Sana smiled softly, “Yeah, deal.”  
Grinning at her own genius, the older girl bounded back up to the counter where the short cashier beamed up at her. She bought the new drinks and said that she’d take them to the table herself.  
As she was waiting for the pink haired lady to whip up the two coffees, Nayeon turned her gaze to the table where Sana was sat. She was drawing circles on the table with her fingers with an adorable pout on her face. The corners of Nayeon’s lips curled upwards.  
Two mugs were placed in front of the brunette. The café owner smiled fondly.  
“You’ve got it bad, huh?” she remarked, “Not as bad as missy here,” she nudged the cashier (who was staring at book girl with wide eyes), “But, yeah you got it bad.”  
“What?” Nayeon asked stupidly. The older woman laughed.  
“You know, my wife and I used to fight a lot too,” she shook her head, “It took us being locked in a room together for three hours by our best friends for us to admit that we liked each other. And now we’re married. You two will figure it out.”  
Letting the woman’s words wash over her, Nayeon picked up the mugs, not forgetting to thank the café’s owner, and looked back towards her table. Sana looked up and smiled brightly when she saw the coffee. Nayeon’s heart pounded in time with the music.  
She really hoped they would. 

The sun was beginning to set by the time Nayeon and Sana left the café. They waved goodbye to the cashier and the café owner with fondness. The owner’s wife winked at Nayeon as she left.  
Surprisingly, after the older girl had sat down with her two drinks, Nayeon had had a really nice time talking to Sana. They’d missed several years’ worth of events. Sana had asked after Nayeon’s little sister, they had shared embarrassing stories about their friends (like the one time a boy asked out Momo and she screamed in panic or the time Mina went out on a date, hated it, and made Sana call her and pretend to be her grandmother) and talked about little things. It was odd reconnecting with someone who she had convinced herself to despise for last few years, but Nayeon realised that she had been so occupied with feeling betrayed and burying her feelings, that she had ignored how much she missed having Sana as a friend.  
Nayeon pulled her phone out to look at the time.  
“I don’t have to be home yet,” she said, almost to herself.  
“How are you getting home?”  
“Walking, I guess,”  
“Same. I’ll walk you home. Want to go the long way round?” Sana asked boldly, but her red cheeks betrayed her shyness. Or maybe that was just the cold.  
Nayeon zipped up her coat with a shiver.  
“Sure. But won’t you be cold?” she asked, regarding Sana’s lack of coat. The Japanese girl buttoned up her blazer and shrugged.  
“I’ll be fine, as long as I’ve got you to keep me warm,” she said with a cheeky, flirtatious smirk. Nayeon rolled her eyes. She had forgotten how flirty Sana could be with her friends. At least her flirting meant that she could now consider Sana a friend instead of a mortal enemy who she sometimes gets off with.  
The two girls made their way down to the path beside the river.  
The wind howled but they were too focussed on talking to each other. Too busy re-learning details that had been forgotten with time. Sana asked if red was still Nayeon’s favourite colour, it wasn’t.  
Nayeon stopped beside a tree and looked out across the river.  
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she whispered.  
“You know what else is beautiful,” Sana began with a coy smile. Straight faced, Nayeon glanced at the younger girl.  
“Me. I am,” she answered completely seriously.  
Sana laughed and put her hand on Nayeon’s arm.  
“Yeah, I guess you are,” she said sweetly. The older girl froze and stared into Sana’s dark eyes that were so easy to get lost in. She pulled herself out of Sana’s eyes and looked back at the river with a snort.  
“Um, you guess? Excuse me, you know I am beautiful,” she said cockily. Sana laughed once more.  
“You were much less cocky before your makeover,” she commented. Nayeon shook her head.  
“Nah, I’ve always been confident about my astounding beauty. I just wear contacts now and have a better hairstyle,” Nayeon replied with a confident smirk. She allowed herself to look back at Sana, expecting her to be looking at the river. Instead, she found her looking at Nayeon with a bemused, yet very warm, smile.  
The brunette noticed that Sana was shivering.  
Wordlessly, she took Sana’s freezing cold hand into her own and slipped their entwined hands into the warmth of her coat pocket.  
“What about my other hand?” she asked quietly.  
“Um, firstly, what happened to my thank you? Secondly, putting your other hand in my pocket would mean one of us walking backwards. Frankly, I don’t want to and you don’t have the coordination,” Nayeon answered sassily.  
“Yah! Unnie!” Sana whined. Nayeon blushed. The younger girl never called her unnie, she rarely even did it when they were friends. Her confident bravado jumped into the river and was washed away by the currents. The older girl looked at her shoes and bit her lip.  
“Maybe we should just walk back quickly before you get hypothermia,” Nayeon said breathlessly. Sana simply nodded.  
They walked back to Nayeon’s house in a comfortable silence. The warmth quickly returned to the hand that inside Nayeon’s pocket. All she could think about was how perfectly the hand fit with hers.  
When they reached the front gate, the older girl faced Sana and smiled shyly, their hands still entwined in her pocket.  
“You can come in if you want, warm up a bit?” she offered awkwardly. Sana rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand.  
“It’s okay, my parents will be worried if I don’t get back soon,” she softly rejected the offer. Nayeon let out a sigh of relief. She really couldn’t be bothered with her parents’ questioning. She knew they meant well, they didn’t want their daughter to be hurt again, but it got on her nerves a bit.  
The pair stared at each other awkwardly for moment.  
“I believe you have something of mine,” Sana broke the silence.  
With a gasp, Nayeon released the hand that was in her pocket. Suddenly, she realised that she had something that may be of use in her other pocket. She pulled out the small pouch, gave it a quick shake and rub, and then plonked it into Sana’s hands.  
“A hand warmer?” Sana asked, raising her eyebrow teasingly.  
“Shut up,” Nayeon replied, “I forgot that I had it.”  
Sana merely hummed in reply. They stared at each other again, both unsure of how to say goodbye to a sort of friend who they may or may not have had feelings for.  
“Erm, hug goodbye?” Nayeon asked, outstretching her arms.  
Sana walked awkwardly into the embrace.  
It was brief and weird as both girls tried not to let their bodies touch. They wrapped their arms around each other. They pulled away slowly. Nayeon caught Sana’s gaze. They began to move so slowly that they stopped, their arms still around each other.  
It was like time froze for Nayeon. It was so easy to get lost in those eyes. Those eyes flicked down to Nayeon’s lips. Their faces loomed closer. Only a few inches to go. If Nayeon leant just a bit further forwards then they surely would kiss. Sana’s eyes fluttered shut. Nayeon let hers do the same.  
Then, having remembered what Sana said earlier, Nayeon smirked and pulled away.  
Sana hadn’t seemed to notice yet. Her eyes were still shut, lips parted. Nayeon almost changed her mind. Almost.  
“I thought we agreed no tears and no kisses. We had a deal,” she said, lowering her voice intentionally to get a rise out of Sana. It worked. The younger girl grabbed Nayeon’s hips roughly.  
“Then the deal’s off,” she whispered huskily.  
Enjoying the game, Nayeon took a step back out of Sana’s reach, but leant forwards teasingly.  
“You have a boyfriend, Miss Minatozaki,” she chuckled mockingly, “And I don’t mess with taken girls.”  
She winked teasingly, taking a mental picture of the comical expression of frustration and confusion on Sana’s flustered face.  
Flicking her hair over her shoulder, Nayeon walked down the path towards her front door.  
When she reached the door, she turned back to Sana, who was still gaping at her in surprise, and wiggled her fingers in a wave.  
Sana didn’t wave back. 

Sana held the boy’s sweaty hand unwillingly. He pulled her down the corridor chatting away to her, he clearly hadn’t noticed that her mind was elsewhere.  
Is it worth it?  
Was it worth it? Parading around with this boy, being his arm candy to set his reputation right. Sana was aware that her past with Nayeon meant that she didn’t have much of a chance of a future with her, but their time together the previous evening made her hope that there would be.  
It was time for Sana to admit that yes, she did indeed have feelings for Nayeon. Feelings of the romantic kind (and sexual, if her dreams were anything to go by). It scared her, it really did. But they were there. And they probably weren’t going to go away anytime soon.  
Sana was fully aware that being with this boy reduced her chances even further. It would only prove to Nayeon that she was more worried about her reputation than anything else.  
Maybe she wasn’t anymore.  
She thought of how hurt Nayeon looked when she asked about Sana’s boyfriend. She didn’t want to hurt her anymore, she didn’t deserve it.  
But her parents... Sana was fearful. But did she want to risk hurting Nayeon again?  
The boy asked her a question.  
Sana shook her head clear of the thoughts that clouded her mind and looked up to the boy.  
She regarded his dark eyes and his dark, floppy hair. He had a strong jawline and soft, plump, almost girlish lips. She supposed that he wasn’t too bad, as far as boys went. He had always been a good boyfriend, even if he did pressure her a bit. And now, they only had to be coupley inside of school, it wasn’t like he was forcing her to go on dates or anything. He had made her put a couple of pictures up on social media but they could easily be taken down once the ordeal was over.  
“Have you got rehearsal at lunch today, or can you sit with me?” he asked.  
Sana cleared her throat.  
“I actually have school council stuff today,” she said. She noticed his pointed stare, “Baby,” she added as an afterthought. Noticing some odd stares, Sana linked her arm with boy’s, letting go of his sweaty hand, and pressed her side up against his, she rested her head on his shoulder.  
She felt someone’s gaze on her.  
Anxiously, Sana locked eyes with Nayeon. The girl scowled and her eyes flicked between Sana and the boy she was clinging to. A dark expression crossed her face and she turned around.  
Sana was aware that Nayeon knew that this relationship wasn’t real, but it hurt her heart to see the hurt in the other girl’s eyes.  
She looked up at the boy.  
She glanced back at Nayeon’s back.  
She looked up at the boy.  
She glanced at Nayeon’s retreating figure.  
Something in her snapped.  
Sana stopped walking. She let go of the boy’s arm. He turned to face the Japanese girl, looking confused.  
Looking down at the floor, Sana made a quiet, strangled sound as she tried to communicate what she was feeling. The words came to her.  
“I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered.  
She wasn’t sure if the boy had heard or not. He took a step closer, he put his sweaty hand on Sana’s arm. She shrugged it off.  
“I said, I can’t do this anymore,” she said, much louder this time.  
Her ex froze and clenched his jaw.  
“What?” he demanded. His eyes flicked around the hallway, reminding Sana of the people around her, of the role she should be playing.  
So she played a role, just not the one he wanted her to play.  
“Getting back together with you was a mistake. I can’t do this with you anymore. We need to break up,” she announced quickly, her voice cracked as she spoke.  
A crowd gathered around the pair. The boy remained silent, but his face conveyed his fury.  
He took a menacing step towards the Japanese girl, who took a step backwards.  
Suddenly, he noticed the crowd around him and clenched his jaw.  
His face twisted into a sneer.  
“Fine,” he spat, “But you’ll regret this.”  
He stalked off.  
Sana began to shake.

The next morning, Sana made her way into school like usual and stood by her locker. Mina and Jihyo flanked her, they kept their eyes out for anyone who might bother the Japanese girl.  
Sana was surprised to find that no one was looking at her like she some kind of monster. She found out from a friend that the rumour was that her ex had convinced her to get back with him, despite cheating on her, and Sana couldn’t handle being with someone who had cheated on her in the past. Sana didn’t correct her.  
She felt relieved that no rumours had been spread about her.  
Perhaps he was better than Sana had thought he was.  
Perhaps her secret was safe.  
Her sense of security came crashing down when a girl, a junior on Sana’s basketball team, approached Sana as she was pulling a book out of her locker, her eyes focussed on the picture of Nayeon.  
The girl coughed awkwardly, pulling Sana’s attention towards her. She looked down at the very short girl and raised an eyebrow.  
“Is it true?” she asked. Sana stiffened.  
“Is what true?”  
“That you’re, y’know, a lesbian,” the girl whispered.  
It seemed like time stopped for a moment.  
Sana clenched her jaw.  
It would be easy to deny it. She had for so long.  
That would be the easiest option. Squash the rumour before it could spread properly, keep it from ever reaching her parents’ ears.  
Her eyes flicked back to the picture on the inside of the locker door.  
Nayeon looked so happy in that photo. So innocent. The Nayeon in the picture looked at Sana like she was her world. She would do anything for Nayeon to look at her like that again, she realised with a jolt of her heart. To deny that she was gay would be to deny her feelings. Nayeon didn’t deserve that.  
After a moment’s thought, Sana turned to the girl. She looked her up and down menacingly.  
“Fuck off.”


	20. Chapter 20

Dress rehearsal for the showcase came around very quickly. Time flies when you spend your days worrying about the rumours going around which you happen to be the subject of. Or at least, that’s what Sana felt.  
Sana walked into the auditorium and noticed that there were no screens anywhere in the theatre for people to get changed behind. It was also empty, save for Jeongyeon.   
Sana must have missed something, she was five minutes late after all.  
When she approached the director, Jeongyeon looked up from her notes with a grin. She was already wearing her costume for her Romeo and Juliet scene with Tzuyu. Sana hated to admit it, but she did look very good in that costume. Jihyo was a lucky gal.  
“Oh, how nice of you to show up, Sana. I’m flattered that you were only five minutes late,” she said sarcastically. Sana had the decency to blush and bite her lip.  
“I had to talk to-” she began to make her excuse but the older girl cut her off with the wave of her hand.  
“Yeah, I don’t give a shit why you’re late. Just make sure that you arrive when I tell you when it comes to the actual show,” Jeongyeon looked back down at her notes, “We’ve booked out the classroom next door to use as the girl’s changing rooms. Boys are just using the loos.”  
“Isn’t that the smallest classroom in the school?” Sana exclaimed.  
“Oh yeah, that’s why we, theatre club, has a policy that you only go into the changing room when you are getting changed. Once you’re done, you have to hang around in the corridor until it’s time to go into the wings for your number. And you would know this if you weren’t late,” Jeongyeon explained with a sigh of boredom.  
Sana plastered a smile onto her face. And walked off to the classroom that they were using as a dressing room.  
Dubchaeng were sat on the floor outside of the room. There were wearing their army uniforms for their piece together. The younger girl had a sketchbook on her lap and was doodling in it. Dahyun was resting her head on the smaller girl’s shoulder.   
Sana regarded them with a tinge of jealousy.   
Mina emerged from the changing room in trackie bottoms, warm up boots and a nude leotard. The girls on the floor both looked up at her with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Sana chuckled to herself.  
She confidently burst into the changing room. Momo was in the process of tying Tzuyu’s tie into smart knot. Nayeon was in the back corner of the classroom, facing the wall.   
Wordlessly, Sana dumped her bags on a free spot on the table and got out her costumes. She hung up her costume for the duet on the window sill and then set out her costume for her other piece.  
Wordlessly, she stripped off her blazer and her shirt.   
She heard Nayeon swear.  
She turned to see the girl leaving her corner of the room with her school shirt half done up, giving Sana a good view of her cleavage.   
Nayeon took one look at Sana then looked away, making an odd chocking noise.   
“Sorry,” Sana mumbled and put her top on.   
She laughed.  
“You can look now, Nayeon,” she said teasingly, “Besides, it’s not you’ve never seen me topless before.”  
The older girl turned even redder, making Sana feel rather satisfied. She hadn’t forgotten how Nayeon had teased her at the end of their not-a-date date. She’d refused to kiss Sana and walked away, leaving the Japanese girl with burning lips and a fuzzy mind. Seeing Nayeon flustered now sort of felt like she had got her revenge.  
“That was before you got boobs,” the brunette muttered, still looking at her own unbuttoned shirt.   
Sana watched curiously as Nayeon rifled through her bag. The older girl stopped with a frustrated sigh.  
“Do you have a safety pin? My button popped off my shirt,” she asked shyly.   
Miraculously, the younger girl did have a few hiding in her costume bag and she gave one to Nayeon.  
“Cheers,” the older girl muttered as she fastened her shirt together with it, and then finished doing up the rest of the buttons.  
By that time, the pair were the only ones in the changing room.  
“So,” Nayeon started, “I’ve heard the rumours going around about you.”  
Sana laughed, “Are you going to ask if they’re true? You know as well as I do that they are.”  
She stared pointedly at the older girl’s lips and smirked when the red returned to Nayeon’s cheeks. The brunette cleared her throat awkwardly.  
“I was going to ask why you hadn’t shut them down already? I expected you to deny those rumours,” she revealed while fiddling with the hem of her skirt. Sana watched her and bit her lip nervously. She remained quiet for a few moments, gathering her thoughts.  
“I was tired of lying to myself and everyone around me,” she said finally. Nayeon looked up with wide eyes.  
“But you haven’t confirmed the rumour?” she asked, clearly being nosy now. Sana shook her head.  
“No,” she confirmed.  
“Because of your parents,” Nayeon said sympathetically. Sana hummed in agreement. “How does it feel having people know about your sexuality?” the older girl asked with an anxious tone to her voice. Sana shrugged and spoke truthfully.  
“Weird,” she revealed. Nayeon frowned in confusion, prompting the younger girl to explain herself. Sana continued to speak, “I expected everyone to hate me when the rumour spread but they don’t. I’ve noticed that some people have avoided me and I won’t pretend that I haven’t heard some of the comments and the gossip. And that sucks, but I feel kind of free. Like a weight has been lifted. But at the same time, I feel constrained. Free but constrained, weird huh?” She finished with a nervous chuckle.   
To Sana’s surprise, Nayeon nodded sincerely.  
“I get it. You’re afraid of what your parents will do if they find out,” she said.  
Sana nodded breathlessly. Nayeon turned back to Sana with an odd smile on her face. She grabbed the younger girl’s hand. Sana was sure that her hand suddenly became clammy because of the contact.   
“For what it’s worth,” Nayeon began, “I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you for breaking up with that douchebag and being so cool about the rumours.”  
Sana let out a breathless chuckle.  
She didn’t know how to respond to that, so she just stared at the brunette instead with a soft smile.   
She got a sudden urge, a rather familiar urge at this point, to kiss the older girl. She licked her lips.  
“You’ve got that face on again,” Nayeon pointed out.  
“What face?” Sana asked, her attention now focussed on the brunette’s lips.   
“The ‘I want to kiss you right now’ face,” she said.  
“So what if I do?” she let the words tumble out of her mouth without even thinking.  
“I’m not sure the changing room is the best place…” Nayeon trailed off.   
“Maybe not,” Sana said in agreement, but she kept her eyes focussed on Nayeon’s lips.   
They were silent for a few seconds. They remained frozen in place.   
“I kissed you first last time,” Nayeon remarked matter-of-factly.  
“Oh? Is that how we’re playing things,” Sana smirked flirtatiously.   
She leant forwards and connected their lips. As quickly as she had initiated the kiss, she pulled away.  
Ignoring Nayeon’s wide eyes and reddening cheeks, Sana turned back to her costume and resumed getting changed. Nayeon threw on her blazer for her princess diaries scene and scuttled quickly out of the changing room.  
Sana let out a breath and rested her hands on the table, letting her confident façade slip.  
What the fuck had she just got herself into?

Dahyun left the stage with a grin. The couple of guys who Jeongyeon had roped into being stage hands followed her, wheeling a piano off the stage (since there was no orchestra pit, they had to whack the piano in the corner of the stage). Jihyo brushed past her as she took to the stage to perform her song.   
She looked down at the hand that was entwined with hers.   
After finishing her solo, Mina had insisted on dragging Dahyun off her piano stool and held her hand while they curtseyed and bowed respectively to the non-existence audience. Dahyun was sure that if was the real thing, the audience would be on their feet for Mina. Her ballet was so beautiful.   
Still holding hands, Dahyun and Mina exited the wings and entered the corridor.  
“You were beautiful, Mina,” the younger girl gushed sincerely, “Jeongyeon-unnie made the right choice in having you opening the show after the interval.”  
Mina smiled shyly, still holding Dahyun’s hand. The blonde was certain that her hand was getting sweatier by the minute but she didn’t want to be the first to let go.   
“It’s not quite the same as opening the entire show, but Momo and Tzuyu are incredible. I’m flattered to be even opening the second half,” she said honestly.  
Dahyun chuckled. She liked how modest Mina always was, even though she thought that the Japanese girl deserved to an ego the size of the moon.   
She briefly glanced around the corridor, hoping to see her tiny best friend. She didn’t spot her, but she did spot her giant best friend sat with her girlfriend. Dahyun was amazed that Tzuyu, the girl who was convinced that she was straight until Jeongyeon’s theatre club party, had got a girlfriend before she did (she wasn’t really because she knew that she was useless). She also spotted Sana and Nayeon sat together in the outfits for their duet (thankfully Nayeon had trousers so no more flashing induced nosebleeds would occur) chatting away to each other, even though they did look a bit awkward. The blonde was sure that she wasn’t the only one who had noticed how oddly that pair had been behaving recently. They used to ignore each other or be constantly fighting, but now they were actually talking civilly and maybe even awkwardly flirting. She could have sworn that she saw Sana kiss Nayeon earlier but perhaps she was imagining things. She did have quite an active imagination, after all. Dahyun turned her attention back to Mina.   
The older girl looked at Dahyun’s clothing and dusted off her sleeve with her free hand. The blonde suddenly felt very self-conscious about the suit she was wearing. Mina had asked her to wear a suit or a smart dress to make her look professional, with her being on stage and all. Dahyun had always wondered if she would look hot in a suit. She was aware that the suit jacket was too big for her, but she thought that fitted waistcoat and trousers made her look very smart and, dare she even think it, sexy. Mina smirked.  
“I’m glad I asked you to wear a suit,” she whispered into Dahyun’s ear, making her shiver.   
The Japanese girl pulled back and smiled brightly. Her smile was entrancing and only the name which came from Mina’s lips could pull her out of the trance.  
“Hey, Chaeyoung, you look… erm… good,” Mina said breathlessly.   
Dahyun looked in the short girl’s direction. Her breath hitched. She was frozen in place. She felt Mina’s hand tighten around her own.  
Chaeyoung emerged from the dressing room with a slight smirk on her full lips. She wore a short black wig that looked so natural it was like she had just had her hair lopped off while Dahyun was playing on stage. The black hair flopped onto her forehead gracefully. The short back and sides highlighted her amazing jawline that Dahyun really wanted to trace with her lips. She wore a sleek, dark grey sweater with jeans and trainers. Chaeyoung was currently in the process of slipping on a brown pea coat which belonged to one of the guys. It highlighted her broad shoulders and narrow frame.   
Dahyun thought she might faint. She was starting to feel a little warm all of a sudden. She was surprised that Mina hadn’t let go of her hand, it was that sweaty. Instead her grip only tightened.  
Chaeyoung’s dark eyes landed on Dahyun and her smirk grew wider.  
In her mind, Dahyun let go of Mina’s hand and threw herself at the younger girl, attacking her lips with vigour. The short girl in her mind grabbed Dahyun by her waistcoat to pull her in closer, kissing back equally aggressively. The blonde would pull the coat off Chaeyoung’s body, throw it away and push her against the wall, running her hands up and down her soft sweater, revelling in the soft noises the other girl made because of her. Perhaps Mina would come up behind her, rest her hands on Dahyun’s hips and attack her neck with lips and teeth in the way she had done at Jeongyeon’s disaster of a party. That hickey had been worth it. She nearly moaned thinking about it. Maybe she would give Chaeyoung one to match. Pressure built in her lower stomach.  
“Nice suit,” Chaeyoung’s compliment brought Dahyun out of her fantasy world and back into the real one where Chaeyoung was stood a few feet away from her, still wearing the masculine coat, and Mina still had an iron grip on Dahyun’s hand.   
“NICE FACE!” Dahyun shouted back in panic. Her cheeks were burning up, hell her whole body was burning up. Now was really not the time to get turned on by her best friend.   
When Mina finally let go of her hand, she wiped her sweaty palm on her trousers.   
Instead, both of Mina’s hands came to rest on Dahyun’s cheeks, turning her face so that they were facing. The action only made Dahyun feel warmer. Her eyes immediately dropped down to Mina’s lips and she found herself unable to pull her gaze away from them.  
“Are you okay, Dahyun?” the Japanese girl asked softly.   
“Oh, yes, I’m food,” Dahyun replied awkwardly, trying to say good and fine at the same time and ending up with a different word entirely. Someone snickered loudly. Dahyun guessed that it was Tzuyu, but could well have been any of the girls in the corridor. Mina pursed her pretty lips.  
“Are you sure? You’re burning up,” she said, her voice full of concern.   
“Maybe she’s too hot in the suit, it is a lot of layers,” Chaeyoung suggested cluelessly.   
Mina hummed in agreement and removed her hands from Dahyun’s red face, grabbed the lapels of her suit jacket and pushed the jacket off her shoulders. Dahyun’s eyes widened even further and her reply got stuck in her throat. She ended up making a noise that sounded like “aduhiehuef”. The jacket was removed from her body. She had to admit that her top half did feel cooler, but her top half wasn’t where the problem lay.   
“Better?” Mina asked.  
Dahyun nodded, suddenly finding an old piece of gum on the floor to be very interesting indeed.  
“Random question,” Chaeyoung said, “But does this hat make me look more boyish? Like, if you didn’t know that I’m a girl, could you mistake me for a boy?”  
Dahyun looked up again and, once again, nearly fainted. The snap back which the short girl had placed on her head only made her look more handsome.   
Apparently, Mina thought the same.  
“You look more handsome,” she said, then muttered under her breath, only just loud enough for Dahyun to hear, “As if that’s even possible.”  
Dahyun couldn’t have agreed more.   
Mina began to walk past the short girl and enter the changing room.  
“I need to change,” she muttered in explanation, as she stood in the door frame, she turned to Dahyun with a soft smile that gave the younger girl a heart attack. Seriously, the blonde’s heart couldn’t hold out much longer. “Dahyunnie, are you going to take that suit off for me?” she asked sweetly, probably referring to how hot (temperature wise) Dahyun looked in it.   
The blonde girl in question spluttered out something, the innuendo not lost on her. Her cheeks got impossibly warmer.   
“LOO!” she shouted, completely flustered, “I’m going to the loo! I need to wee!”   
“Woah, tmi,” Chaeyoung laughed teasingly as Mina shrugged and entered the class room/changing room. “Seriously though, are you okay?”   
Dahyun smiled awkwardly as the shorter girl stepped closer and gentle tapped the back of her hand against the blonde’s forehead.  
“Do you need me to take care of you?” she asked sincerely, worry in her big eyes.   
That was it. Dahyun was officially deceased.   
“I’m fine. Cool as a cucumber,” Dahyun said, her voice loud and squeaky. She finger gunned her friend with an awkward grimace and then ran off to the nearest toilet.   
As soon as she reached the loos, she ran in and splashed some cold water onto her burning face.  
‘Well, that could have gone worse,’ Dahyun thought to herself, ‘I could have had an actual heart attack. Or worse, kissed one of them in front of everyone.’  
She shook her head and then leant forwards to rest her forehead against the cool glass of the mirror.   
Those girls would be the death of her. 

Nayeon stood in the wings with the rest of the cast waiting for Mina and Chaeyoung to finish their performance so that they could all take their final bow. She wore the costume that she had worn for her duet with Sana, the dark green t-shirt and a pair of Vietnamese style trousers. It was an odd combination, but it worked for the duet, almost suited the post-sex vibe of the scene.   
Perhaps Jeongyeon had been onto something when she had suggested that she went out with Sana for coffee. The lovey-dovey bits of the duet had felt less awkward this time around. So that was good.   
Although, her head was still reeling from what had happened once their duet had finished. Once they entered the wings, and Mina and Chaeyoung had taken their place on stage, Sana had turned to Nayeon with a smirk and had whispered into Nayeon’s ear.  
“It’s your turn,”  
Nayeon knew that she should have laughed off Sana’s words and walked off.   
But Nayeon was competitive as fuck and wasn’t going to back down to a challenge.   
She found that having stood up to Sana, she felt bolder and more confident, different to the meek girl that used to die a little every time the Japanese girl looked at her.   
Yes, Nayeon’s competitive nature was louder than the sensible voice in her head which said that kissing Sana on the side of the stage was a very bad idea. She very quickly gave Sana a clumsy peck on the lips and then rushed away from the surprised girl as fast as her legs could carry her.   
The brunette pushed her hair back off her forehead and focussed on the stage.   
Mina and Chaeyoung had come to the end of their performance. The bit where they kissed. It seemed they were performing the version where they snogged passionately today. Nayeon could see from where she was stood that Mina’s fingers were roughly holding onto the back of the short girl’s head, her fingers entwined in the short locks. She feared for Chaeyoung’s wig. The brunette glanced at the blonde girl beside her who looked very flustered. Dahyun bit her lip. Nayeon fought back a snort.   
The lights went down. They came back up and Mina and Chaeyoung were stood side by side, taking their bow. The lights went down again and Nayeon pegged it onto the stage, followed by the rest of the cast.   
They all stood in a line, Nayeon sandwiched between Chaeyoung and Tzuyu. She appreciated being next to Chaeyoung, because being next to the Taiwanese girl made her feel like a midget. A space was left for Jeongyeon between Dahyun and Mina.   
The group bowed to an audience of two (the drama teacher and Jeongyeon) who clapped enthusiastically.   
Nayeon grinned.  
As far as dress rehearsals went, it had run pretty smoothly. Nayeon knew that she fucked up a couple of her lines in her princess diaries bit, and others had made mistakes here and there, but other than that, it was looking good. Who’d have thought that the train wreck of a show that they were rehearsing just weeks before would turn out nicely?  
Jeongyeon gestured to the group, making them come forward and sit on the edge of the stage. The club obeyed their director.  
The drama teacher stood up and sang his praises of the show. Literally. He sang them. He made Jeongyeon do the harmonies (despite her not knowing any of the words to his impromptu song). It was tragic. But that didn’t stop his words filling Nayeon with pride.   
Upon finishing, the drama teacher wished the group luck for their performance and glided out of the theatre.  
Jeongyeon watched the door close. She pulled something out of her pocket, a party popper. She let the streamers fly over the chair in front of her.  
“Congratulations, nerds!” she shouted excitedly, “We don’t suck!”  
Nayeon cheered, slightly confused.   
The short-haired girl then laughed.  
“Seriously though guys, you all did really well. We’ve got another dress run on Monday after school to iron out the kinks and then that’s it! Show starts on Tuesday!” the director clapped her hands together happily. She then smirked mischievously and pulled something else out of her pocket, another party popper.  
Nayeon rolled her eyes, that girl had no jams.   
“I have something else to announce,” she said cheekily.  
Momo gasped loudly.  
“Are you and Jihyo getting married?” she squealed.  
Jeongyeon turned a hilarious shade of pink.  
“No! Not yet anyway,” she answered, stammering a little. The director recollected herself and the grin returned to her face. “On Friday, after our last show, we’re going to have an after-show party!”  
She pulled the party popper with a cheer.  
Then a serious look returned to her face, “But someone is going to have to volunteer their house because my parents will be in and they aren’t happy about hosting a house party.”  
Tzuyu raised her hand awkwardly, “We can have it at mine. My parents are going out on a romantic getaway slash business trip so it’ll just be me and Gucci.”  
“That’s such a good idea!” Chaeyoung gushed loudly, “Tzuyu’s parents are loaded. They practically live in a mansion.”  
Tzuyu flushed, but didn’t deny it. Nayeon chuckled, she seriously needed to get closer to that giant (she was joking of course).   
“Sounds like a plan,” Jeongyeon laughed. “And it’s totally cool if y’all invite other people, like other pals or we could invite the rest of the lgbt society since most of us are part of that lol and, yeah… just invite other pals to make this party lit as fuck.”  
Nayeon was looking forward to the next week. Four shows followed by a party that promised to be a lot of fun. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I miss Chaeyoung's short hair. Don't get me wrong, I love her long hair too, but her short hair was super hot.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's taken me a while to update, but hopefully this chapter will make up for it.
> 
> Well, fellas, we are now entering the final stage of the story. Some shit will go down. Expect some angst. Expect some fluff. Hopefully it'll be fun to read as it is to write. One of the scene in this chapter is something that I've been planning on writing since the conception of this fic so writing that scene was lowkey kind of emotional for me. Bet you can't figure out which one haha.
> 
> Once again, thank you for all of your comments. Sometimes I find myself hitting a brick wall with this fic, but your comments encourage me to keep on going. 
> 
> I intend to finish this fic before uni starts again so fingers crossed.

It was opening night.  
Nayeon sat trembling with a flat white in her hands. The foam wobbled.  
She was back in that café that Sana took her to the previous week. Currently, she was sat beneath a rainbow poster. Minatozaki Sana sat opposite her. Her books were spread out across the table.   
In the gap between the end of school and the show, Sana had asked Nayeon to accompany her to the café for a study date. Of course, Nayeon had completely ignored the ‘study’ part and focussed on the ‘date’ part, although at the time, Sana had assured her that other people would be coming. It wouldn’t just be the two of them.   
Except it was just the two of them.  
“Are you sure no one else is coming?” Nayeon asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.   
Sana remained focussed on the notes in front of her and hummed.  
“I’m pretty sure Mina and Momo have dance. The maknaes already had plans and Jihyo and Jeongyeon literally just bailed on me,” she explained. Nayeon wrinkled her nose.  
“Do I want to know?”  
The Japanese girl looked up and smirked.  
“Probably not,” she answered.   
Nayeon sat back in her seat, letting thoughts ponder through her head.   
She was pretty confident that Momo never had dance on a Tuesday. But maybe she was wrong. Momo having an extra dance class was a lot more plausible than Sana sneakily orchestrating a date with Nayeon, wasn’t it?  
While the Japanese girl worked on her homework, Nayeon allowed herself to zone out and be consumed by her thoughts.  
Their full dress run had been the previous evening. It had run just as smoothly as the first dress run. Although, Nayeon thought with a smirk, Dahyun didn’t look like she was going to keel over last night. Perhaps the poor girl had managed to gain better control around Mina in a leotard and Chaeyoung in a wig. At least one of them had better control of themselves. Nayeon had very little.  
Sana had kissed her again, a quick peck in an empty bathroom during lunch hour. Nayeon had kissed her back before the dress run. Nothing more than a quick kiss in the empty changing room, for good luck of course.   
That meant it was Sana’s turn to kiss her.  
Nayeon thought about their little game as she took another sip of their coffee.  
It was weird. She couldn’t deny that it was weird how they would take it in turns to kiss each other when they were alone. It had almost become a game. Nayeon wasn’t sure what the objective was. To see who could be bolder? To see who could give up first? To see who would escalate the kiss from a mere peck first? Nayeon didn’t know. But she was competitive and she was sure as hell going to win this game.   
Her competitiveness was definitely the only reason she was randomly kissing Sana, it definitely wasn’t because she really liked it when Sana would kiss her.   
Who was she kidding? Nayeon fucking loved kissing the younger girl. She loved the softness of her lips, the vanilla flavour that would linger on her lips after the kiss, the scent of the Japanese girl. Nayeon hated to admit it, but she was smitten.   
And that was why she was sat staring at Sana, rather than working on her own homework.  
Huffing to herself, Nayeon glanced around the café. Like last time, it was quite quiet, but it certainly wasn’t empty. The pink haired owner was working behind the counter while the same cashier as last time gazed longingly at the same girl from last time, the girl with the book and the rainbow pin. Book girl glanced up from her book and stared back at the cashier when she wasn’t looking.  
How Nayeon loved gay drama.  
A voice interrupted her thoughts.  
“Nervous?”  
Nayeon returned her gaze back to the pretty girl in front of her. Sana had packed her pens away and was sipping on an iced coffee. She lowered the drink slightly, the straw still hanging from her parted lips. There was a cheeky dust of lipstick on those lips that really made them stand out. The brunette was almost annoyed that it was Sana’s turn to kiss her. She would have quite happily taken her turn right there and then.  
The Japanese girl must have mistaken Nayeon’s silence for confusion and explained herself.  
“Are you nervous about the show?” she asked gently.   
Nayeon, starting to blush, focussed on the coffee in her still shaking hands.  
“I’m shitting bricks,” she said, nodding slowly. A smile crept onto Sana’s lips.   
“That nervous huh?” she asked, “At least Jeongyeon got you some pants for our duet. You don’t have to worry about flashing your ass at anyone.”  
Nayeon laughed awkwardly.  
“I didn’t see you complaining,” she shot back teasingly.   
Sana smiled wryly, a light blush gracing her cheeks. Nayeon enjoyed making the younger girl blush, it was funny.   
The brunette placed her drink back down on the table and tried to control her shaking hands.  
“How do you feel?” Nayeon asked the pretty girl in front of her. The Japanese girl was staring at Nayeon’s hands.  
“I’m a bit nervous, but clearly not as nervous as you,” she remarked. Her hands reached out and clasped hold of Nayeon’s. The brunette tried not to let the panic show on her face.   
Sana moved her chair, while still holding Nayeon’s hands, so that she was now sat beside the older girl. “Cheer up, unnie!” she said cutely, placing her free hand on Nayeon’s forearm.   
The brunette looked away and made awkward eye contact with a woman who sat at a nearby table. She glanced back at Sana with a forced grin.  
A random thought popped into her head and she found herself saying the words before she could stop them.  
“You know, in the stage version if Miss Saigon, they start making out during ‘Sun and Moon’ at least twice. Once during the instrumental and again at the end of the song,” Nayeon said brightly. Sana tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows, but the wry smile remained.  
“Are you trying to tell me something?” she asked mockingly, “Do you want to get off with me on stage?”  
Nayeon felt suddenly flustered and half-heartedly tried to shake off Sana’s hands.  
“No, not onstage,” she stammered.  
“But you want to get off with me off stage?” Sana asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world (because it was).  
Nayeon pouted and looked at the Japanese girl.  
“Stop teasing me, I’m older than you,” she said finally.   
“That wasn’t a no,” Sana replied, her tone suddenly much more serious.  
The brunette found herself shaking her head.   
Sana visibly glanced at Nayeon’s lips. The older girl gulped.  
“Your turn or mine?” she asked quietly. Nayeon let out a breath.  
“You know it’s yours,” she answered, equally as quietly.  
“Just checking,” the Japanese girl murmured as she began to lean closer.  
Nayeon was about to close her eyes when the café’s door swung open loudly.   
The brunette instinctively jumped away from Sana, who also tilted her head downwards and away from her companion.  
Into the café walked Momo and Tzuyu. They were closely followed by Mina and Chaeyoung, who was laughing loudly at Dahyun, the blonde girl had nearly walked into the counter when she laid eyes on the woman behind the counter.   
While the other girls stood in line, Nayeon watched as the shortest girl of the group looked around the café slowly. Her eyes finally landed on Sana and Nayeon. The Japanese girl shoved her hands into her lap. Nayeon gripped onto her coffee for dear life and smiled at the girl awkwardly.  
“Nayeon-unnie! Sana-unnie!” she shouted and waved enthusiastically. Nayeon waved back with a strained grin plastered onto her face.  
Momo and Dahyun turned and waved with aggressive happiness. Tzuyu watched her girlfriend fondly while Mina waved shyly, looking at bit sheepish. Nayeon noticed the glare that Sana sent in her direction.  
Grinning like children, Momo, Dahyun and Chaeyoung skipped over to the table that Nayeon was sat at. Momo and Dahyun plonked themselves down in the two other unoccupied chairs that surrounded the round table. Chaeyoung came up behind Nayeon and wrapped her arms her chest in an awkward hug.  
“Unnie!” she exclaimed, placing her chin on Nayeon’s head.   
Dahyun suddenly gasped loudly and grabbed Sana’s arm. “Is this a date?” she asked.  
Nayeon bit her lip and shook her head violently. She glanced over to Sana who looked like a deer in the headlights.   
“Jihyo and Jeongyeon were supposed to be joining us,” Sana said awkwardly, avoiding looking at Nayeon.  
“Ah, so a double date. Gotcha,” Momo said, nodding her head wisely. Nayeon shot her a dirty look. She had confided in her nerdy best friend about her feelings for Sana, and even told her about the kissing thing that was going on (the younger girl had suggested that it was a very bad idea which meant something coming from Momo).   
“Aren’t you supposed to be at dance class?” Nayeon questioned. The accused Japanese girl tilted her head and opened her mouth in confusion.   
“No? I never have dance on a Tuesday,” she said.   
Narrowing her eyes, the oldest girl turned to the girl beside her, who was looking very flustered, and cleared her throat. Sana grimaced.  
“Oh, silly me. I forget that Momo-chan isn’t on the dance team. They practice on Tuesdays,” she said sweetly, her eyes darting around the girls at the table and then settling on Mina and Tzuyu, who were approaching the table having just finished paying. They grabbed a couple of chairs and joined the table.   
“You’re on the dance team, unnie,” Chaeyoung pointed out, her hands still on Nayeon’s shoulders. Sana looked very panicked and flustered all of a sudden.   
“Have you heard that Jeongyeon had made the party a costume party? Same theme as the showcase. Any ideas for costumes?” she quickly changed the subject with an extremely high pitched voice.   
Of course, the group had the attention span of a goldfish and jumped at Sana’s change of subject. They began to discuss their ideas in depth. Nayeon remained quiet (for once) and glanced over to Sana, who was still a bit pink. Was this supposed to be a date? Surely it wasn’t, the Japanese girl had ignored her for most of the time in favour of her school work.  
The red-headed cashier girl interrupted them with a tray full of various drinks.  
She placed it on the table and scuttled away with an awkward bow. Poor girl was probably extremely flustered by the group of hot, queer girls that were in the café. Not that Nayeon was biased or anything.  
Dahyun reached out around Chaeyoung, who had positioned herself on the blonde’s lap, to grab the black coffee which was on the tray.  
“Ah, yes, as dark and bitter as my soul,” she remarked, holding up the mug of jet black liquid.   
“That’s mine,” Mina said, taking the mug off her. “This white hot chocolate is yours.”  
Dahyun’s face lit up and she reached out for the drink with a toothless smile. Momo took some sort of sugar-laden iced coffee while Chaeyoung grabbed a smoothie, no doubt something containing strawberries. Tzuyu’s espresso looked comically small compared to her.   
The group chatted away for a bit while they drank their drinks.   
Nayeon kept on glancing at the Japanese girl beside her, trying to ignore the tension between them. She was really bummed that the other girls had walked in when they had.  
They quickly finished their drinks and the girls began to stand up.  
Tzuyu addressed Sana and Nayeon.  
“We’re going to grab some food before the show. Would you like to join?” she asked ever so politely.   
“Sure. You guys go ahead while we pack our stuff up,” Sana replied brightly. Nayeon smiled and nodded too.  
While the rest of the group put on their coats and headed out of the café, waving goodbye to the owner and the other girl behind the counter as they went, Nayeon and Sana packed up their things.   
As she moved to stand up, Nayeon felt a hand on her chin. The hand guided her face towards Sana, who kissed her very quickly (if a bit roughly), and then pushed her chin away.   
The younger girl smiled and then skipped away, calling out,  
“Mina! Mina-chan! Minari!”  
Nayeon watched the Japanese girl grab her friend’s arm as they walked out of the door. Her mouth remained open.   
It sort of seemed like Sana was winning the game. And she wasn’t having any of that.

Dahyun and Mina were back in the music practice room.   
The blonde was playing the same piece that she played for Mina onstage. The Japanese girl was perching on the same piano stool. Their sides were pressed up close together.   
The first show had been the previous evening.  
Opening night.  
Everyone had been shitting themselves. Especially Jeongyeon.   
Dahyun wasn’t stupid, she knew that the reason Jihyo and Jeongyeon didn’t go out for coffee with the group when they had asked was because they were getting busy somewhere in school (Dahyun hoped it wasn’t anywhere that she would come in contact with). At least Jihyo made the older girl less stressed.   
Opening night.  
For most people, it had gone very well. The audience was quite full and seemed very happy with their performance.   
The only person who wasn’t happy with their performance was Dahyun.  
Her piano playing had been off.   
She didn’t know why. She genuinely had no idea. It must have been nerves. It didn’t help that Mina in a leotard and tutu skirt was rather distracting. And also for the opening night, Mina and Chaeyoung were to do a passionate kiss but Mina would push the other girl away as the lights turned off.   
Maybe the jealousy was getting to her.   
Maybe she was so jealous that Mina and Chaeyoung got to kiss each other every night while she had to stand side stage and just watch.   
Her fantasies didn’t help either.  
Dahyun missed a note and the piano made a horrendous sound. The blonde groaned and dropped her forehead onto the keys. The Japanese girl beside her rubbed hand up and down Dahyun’s spine, the fingers resting a moment too long at the nape of the blonde’s neck.  
“What’s up, Dahyunnie?” Mina asked gently.  
“I can’t get it right,” Dahyun mumbled into the cold keys.   
“Do you think that you might be over-rehearsing?” the Japanese girl asked sweetly.   
The younger girl lifted her head with a huff.  
“I just want to play perfectly for you and I messed it up last night,” she muttered.  
Mina laughed. As always, the sound made Dahyun’s heart skip a beat and the butterflies in her stomach went wild.   
“You know, I made mistakes last night too. I forgot a bit of the dance so made it up,” she revealed, nudging the younger girl gently.  
“You did? You couldn’t tell,” Dahyun said sincerely.  
Mina nodded eagerly with a slight blush forming on her delicate cheeks.   
“Yeah, I did. And I nearly forgot to push Chaeyoung away at the end of our kiss scene,” she said, sounding shyer this time. Dahyun froze in her seat and forced a teasing smile onto her face.  
“That good a kisser, huh?”  
A dreamy look crossed Mina’s face and she hummed in agreement. The blonde girl looked down at the piano keys and absently began to play the piece again. She messed it up almost immediately. Sighing harshly, she placed her hands into her lap and looked down at them.  
“I’m jealous,” she blurted out, her chest constricting.  
Mina seemed to catch what Dahyun was talking about immediately. She placed her hand on top of the pair of hands in the blonde girl’s lap and, with her other hand on Dahyun’s cheek, turned her head so that they were facing. They locked eyes.  
What was Mina to say to her? Many things floated in her mind. ‘I would have liked to have done the scene with you. I want to kiss you as well. If you kissed me, I wouldn’t push you away. Are you jealous of me or Chaeyoung? I’m sure Chaeyoung would rather kiss you. Kiss me.’  
There were too many words in her head. The torrent of words got caught in Mina’s throat. So she swallowed them.  
“Play for me. Something different,” Mina whispered instead.   
Dahyun’s heart sank and fluttered at the same time. She had hoped to hear something else. But she’d do anything for that girl. Her lips curled up into a smile and she put her fingers onto the keys. She played from the heart, hoping that Mina would hear the unspoken ‘I love you’ within the music.   
When she finished, there were two sets of hands clapping instead of one.   
The blonde flicked her head around and saw Chaeyoung leant against the door of the music room. The younger girl had her hair up in a bun with a paintbrush stuck into it. Her hands were had streaks of red and white paint of them. There was an orange smudge on her jawline.   
“That was beautiful, Dahyunnie,” the short girl said breathlessly as she walked forwards and wrapped her arms around Mina’s shoulders. She looked down at Dahyun with a look that she was sure was meant for Mina. It was too full of awe and love to be meant for her.   
“Not as beautiful as you,” Dahyun said teasingly, hoping to dissipate the weird tension. Mina was sat staring at her blankly. Did she not like the music? Chaeyoung laughed and pinched Dahyun’s cheeks fondly.   
Mina had retreated inside of her head. She had seen the look of concentration on Dahyun’s face when she was playing. She had heard the love in the music. But she had also seen the pure joy on the younger girl’s face when she saw Chaeyoung. She didn’t know what to think.  
“You’re so talented,” Mina found herself saying.  
Dahyun blushed, the redness easily visible on her pale cheeks.   
“Art club finish early?” Dahyun asked, her voice sqeaking slightly. Chaeyoung rested her head on top of Mina’s and smiled softly.  
“I left early to come and see you guys. I’ve nearly finished my painting anyway,”  
“Can we see it one day?” Dahyun asked.   
“Maybe,” she replied. Mina frowned cutely.   
The short changed the subject quickly.  
“So, I was thinking,” she began.  
“Sounds dangerous,” Dahun interjected.  
“It was. I’ve had a headache for days now,” Chaeyoung replied, laughing, then continued her trail of thought. “You know how the after-show party is a costume party? Well, why don’t we go as a group costume? Like, a couple costume but for three of us.”  
“A throuple costume,” Dahyun interjected excitedly. Chaeyoung nodded, looking slightly confused.  
“I’m in,” Mina agreed softly.   
They brainstormed ideas for short while until Chaeyoung bounced up and down with an idea.  
“Oh, let’s do Leon!” she said excitedly.  
“That’s still a couple costume!” Dahyun exclaimed, exasperated that all they could come up with was couple costumes which would inevitably leave one of them out.  
“It’s not!” the cub-like girl shouted back, “There’s Leon, Mathilda and the plant!”  
The room went silent.   
Chaeyoung and Dahyun exchanged a glance, then turned their eyes onto the Japanese girl.  
Mina scowled.  
“I am not going to a party as a plant.”

Sana stood in front of her locker, exchanging books as usual.   
It was Friday, the date of the final show.  
For her, the three previous shows had gone swimmingly.   
After every show, Sana had looked around into the audience and felt her chest swell with pride.  
Who’d have thought that being forced to join a club would eventually lead to Sana being the happiest she had ever been?  
On stage, her worries disappeared. She became the character who she was playing. Out of the window went her concerns about her sexuality, her fears of what others may think, her worries about her feelings for Nayeon and the game they were playing.  
It seemed that her and the older girl had got into the habit of kissing in the changing room before their duet, for good luck of course. And they seemed to manage to sneak the odd kiss in whenever they were left alone, even if it was for a few moments. Nayeon had gotten bolder with her kisses and had kissed Sana in the wings after their duet had ended. She had done it before, but that time the lights had been on and Mina and Chaeyoung could have spotted them. The thought of someone catching them made Sana panic, though she wasn’t sure why. It didn’t help that Sana was sure that her feelings for Nayeon grew with every kiss.  
But they were playing a game now. And Sana wasn’t going to lose.  
The Japanese girl closed her locker and turned around, leaning against it.   
Speak of the devil.  
Nayeon walked past Sana. They made eye contact and Sana’s lips quirked up into a smile.  
The older girl looked away, but a smile played on her lips that made the Japanese girl’s heart swell.   
Another gaggle of girls, probably sophomores, settled beside Sana, talking amongst themselves. Sana pulled out her phone, completely disregarding the no phones in the corridor rule, and eavesdropped on them the moment she heard them mention the showcase. A couple of the girls had mentioned that they saw it the previous night.  
“Yah! I’m supposed to be going tonight!” one of them exclaimed, “Is it any good? Or should I not bother?” the girl giggled.  
“It’s so good!” another gushed, “So much better than the usual drama club crap. President Jihyo is such a good singer and, like, Chou Tzuyu was so good.”  
“She’s so cool,”  
“Yeah, and Seojun is so cute. They did Titanic and he looked so fit as Jack,”  
Sana suppressed a snort. She couldn’t believe that she used to be so insipid, like these girls.  
“What about that gay one?” one girl asked, “Is it true that there’s like a mini play about two lesbians?”  
“Actually, only one of the girls is a lesbian, the other is left up to interpretation,” a new voice spoke. Sana subconsciously leant closer to the group.  
“Whatever, Yerimie. And yeah, it’s true. It’s kinda sad but, like, it’s quite good. Like, they kissed at the end but it was kinda cute, I guess,”  
Sana released a breath she didn’t realise she was holding.   
“It was so cute,” the girl from before, Yerim, Sana assumed, spoke up again, “And Son Chaeyoung looked kinda hot in that bit.”  
The girls laughed.  
“Something you’re not telling us?” one of them laughed mockingly. The girl sounded very flustered when she spluttered out her reply. It reminded Sana of herself as a sophomore.  
“No! That’s so- No! I just meant- With the hair, she looks like a boy. Y’know, a cute boy.”  
Sana shook her head.   
She rolled her eyes when the girls giggled as a boy approached them. Of course, it had to be her ex. Of course it did. Sana felt like she couldn’t escape him.  
“Sorry, ladies,” she heard him say charmingly, “I couldn’t help but overhear you talking about the showcase.”  
Sana looked over to him. He looked up from the gaggle of giggling girls and made eye contact with the Japanese girl.   
“Didn’t you find the gay bit weird?” he said, staring directly at Sana.  
His greasy friend next to him snorted.  
“I thought it was hot as fuck,” he said, “Shame those girls are actually lesbians.”  
Sana’s ex elbowed the guy before he could make another remark that would make Sana’s skin crawl more than it already was.   
The girls muttered in agreement, the male attention probably making them shy.   
“Did you know that the money from the show goes straight into gay club’s bank account?” he asked patronisingly, “All because two girls kiss at the end of the show.”  
The girl squad muttered angrily in response. The boy chuckled.  
“I don’t know about you girls, but I think it’s kind of gross,” he said with a raised eyebrow.   
He and his friend patronisingly said goodbye to the suddenly quiet girls and continued down the corridor.   
Sana was fed up of her ex. It was the last straw for her. Hurting Nayeon, then blackmailing her and then talking shit about the showcase all because it featured a gay kiss. It wasn’t on. And Sana wasn’t going to be quiet anymore. Not when he was calling her friends, and she supposed herself by proxy, gross and weird.   
“Hey, why don’t you keep your homophobic opinions to yourself,” Sana shouted at the boy’s back. The corridor went quiet. Some people shuffled away to avoid drama while others shuffled closer. The boy turned around slowly with a clenched jaw.  
“Fucking, what?” he asked roughly.   
“You heard me. Stop being such a homophobic dickhead. There’s nothing weird or gross about girls kissing,” Sana found herself stating boldly.   
“Oh, because you’d know of course,” he sneered. Sana ignored the comment.  
“And don’t you go spreading shit about gay club stealing the profits or whatever. You know as well as I do that we, the student council, agreed to it,” she continued, making sure she was speaking loud enough that people who had heard rumours would hear Sana shut it down.   
The boy started to go a little red.  
“What is your problem, Sana?” he asked, “Why can’t you just leave me alone? You broke up with me, remember? So why not leave me alone?” He made his face look sad and disturbed, clearly playing the victim.  
Sana scoffed, “My problem is you being homophobic, that’s all.”  
“Ah, are you bothering me because Im Nayeon won’t love you back?” he asked mockingly. The eavesdroppers gasped. Sana froze.  
“This has nothing to do with Nayeon so shut up about her,” she warned, her voice low, “I’m making sure that everyone knows that you’re a homophobic, misogynistic asshole.”   
She shouted the final part. Some people giggled.   
The boy at least had the decency to look ashamed and offended, but clearly anger took over. He stepped closer to Sana and whispered in her ear.  
“I never actually intended to tell your parents about your… perverseness. But if you don’t stop humiliating me, if you don’t leave me alone, then I will. Mark my words,” he whispered sinisterly. With a final sneer, he walked off leaving Sana shaking.   
God, she hated that boy. 

Nayeon was shaking again. She wasn’t sure if it was nerves or excitement.   
The final show!  
It was so weird how weeks and weeks of practice had lead up to this week. And the week had flown by. The performances happened so quickly it was almost like they never happened at all! It was all blurry in Nayeon’s head but she was too focussed on the show to sit down and discern them.   
She walked off stage in her uniform for the princess diaries piece with shaking hands.   
Sana was already on stage with one of the boys for her piece.   
As she left the wings, Jeongyeon brushed past her on her way into the wings.   
The taller girl stopped and put her hand on Nayeon’s shoulder. The younger girl was dressed in her Romeo outfit, a loose-fitting chain-mail like shirt and dark breeches. Her now quite long hair was tied back in a ponytail. She smiled.  
“How does it feel to never have to be Mia again?” she asked.  
“Weird,” Nayeon replied honestly.   
“Hey, at least soon you’ll never have to sing that damn duet with Sana again,” Jeongyeon joked.   
“More trouble than it was worth?” Nayeon asked teasingly, trying not to let her smile drop.  
“Nah, you two do it better than I could have ever imagined. It just took you two a long time, and a couple of make out sessions, to get into it,” the younger girl laughed.  
Nayeon laughed as well, glad that the darkness of the wings disguised her blush.  
“Stop teasing her, Jeongyeonnie,” Jihyo scolded from behind Jeongyeon. She was in her costume already. The two girls wandered into the wings and watched the rest of Sana’s piece with entwined hands. Nayeon smiled absently at the pair and wandered into the corridor.   
Dahyun, in her suit, and Chaeyoung, still in her first costume as she had got into the habit of changing while Mina and Dahyun were performing, were messing around the corridor while Mina paced nervously in her leotard and sweatpants. Tzuyu brushed past Nayeon, still fiddling with her wings, on her way to the stage, ready to do her Romeo and Juliet section with Jeongyeon. The rest of the boys were already in the wings, watching their friend perform with Sana. Nayeon glanced around in search of Momo. She assumed that the Japanese girl must have already snuck into the audience so that she could watch her girlfriend on stage. She had done that twice (lol) already without being caught.  
Nayeon took the time to chat to Chaeyoung and Dahyun, congratulating them on never having to shove chocopies into each other’s mouths again.  
“What are you talking about?” Dahyun had asked cluelessly, “We feed each other all the time.”  
“Gay,” Nayeon had laughed in reply, making the two girls blush.  
The oldest girl wished the two girls luck in their next scene. She then moved onto Mina, who looked a bit sick.  
“My parents are watching today,” she revealed anxiously, “I think they’re sat next to Sana’s parents so I don’t think that will end well.”  
Nayeon had asked the younger girl to explain. Mina had revealed how the two Japanese families don’t really get along, and haven’t even spoken since Mina came out to her parents, because of their different viewpoints on homosexuality. According to Mina, it made church very awkward. That had made Nayeon laugh out loud. The older girl wished Mina luck and gave her a few words of encouragement.   
By the time she entered the changing room, got out her costume for the duet and had begun to change, Nayeon could hear applause coming from the stage. Sana’s piece must have finished.  
When Sana rushed into the classroom/changing room, Nayeon was dressed in her duet costume and was getting out her hair and make up kit..   
“Unzip me?” Sana asked, lifting her hair up and presenting her back to Nayeon. Wordlessly, the older girl undid her dress, as she always did after Sana’s piece. The Japanese girl was quieter than usual. She flinched when Nayeon’s knuckle grazed her neck.   
Odd. Sana hadn’t flinched away from her touch in a very long time. It freaked Nayeon out. Brought back bad memories.   
Ignoring those memories, Nayeon focussed on sorting out her hair  
“I heard your parents are watching today. Nervous?” Nayeon asked conversationally, even though the answer was obvious. Sana only hummed as she stepped out of her dress and reached for her trousers.   
The older girl awkwardly reached for a mirror and sat in front of it.  
“I was surprised that they came actually. I sort of expected them not to come because of Jeongyeon’s original piece being super gay and the money going to lgbt charities and all that, y’know,” Nayeon rambled nervously. Sana buttoned up her trousers.  
“Yeah, well, I guess they wanted to support my acting,” she murmured, sounding uncharacteristically miserable.   
The younger girl reached out for her shirt. Instead of putting it on, she held it in front of her and simply stared at it. Nayeon frowned, but instead focussed on her reflection in the mirror that someone had brought. She roughed up her hear and pulled it into a messy bun, pulling out some strands to frame her face. She got out her makeup removal wipes so that she could redo her makeup.   
The older girl looked back towards Sana, about to offer the younger girl a wipe, but she was still staring at the shirt silently like it had murdered her family. At least she was wearing a sports bra today.  
“Are you okay, Sana?” Nayeon asked, “You’ve been staring at that shirt for a while. Tzuyu and Jeongyeon will be done soon so you should probably put it on before Chaeyoung comes in and has a heart attack.”  
Her comment didn’t even elicit a sly chuckle from the Japanese girl. Her gaze remained fixed on that shirt.   
“Maybe I shouldn’t do the duet today,” Sana muttered, barely loud enough for Nayeon to hear, “Maybe I should get someone else to do it for me.”  
Nayeon moved closer to Sana with a puzzled expression.  
“What are you talking about? Of course, you should do the duet! It’s our duet! We worked hard on this. It’s our last time,” Nayeon exclaimed.   
Sana finally looked up from the shirt and stared at the older girl. From her facial expression, you could assume that Nayeon had just threatened to kill her favourite, and also non-existent, pet (not that Nayeon would ever do such a thing, she loved doggos).   
It suddenly clicked in Nayeon’s minds.  
“Oh, I get it. You’re worried what your parents will think about you singing a love song with me, a known lesbian,” she said, her voice low. Nayeon was hurt that Sana would seriously consider not doing the duet, but she understood why. She could accept it, as long as Sana didn’t do anything to humiliate her or anything like that. But she trusted that Sana had grown since freshman year and wouldn’t retreat into the wonderful world of denial.   
Sana looked back down at the shirt and then sighed. “I just- what if they see me looking at you like you’re my world?” Sana asked breathlessly.  
“It’s just acting,” Nayeon replied, starting to feel a little irritated.   
“What if it’s not though?” she asked in reply, so quietly that Nayeon barely heard her. The brunette’s heart pounded in her chest. She didn’t know how to reply to Sana’s confession.  
After a moment’s silence, Sana looked back at Nayeon with determination set in her features.  
“You know what, let’s go do it. You’re right, it’s our last time. Let’s finish with a bang and not a whimper,” she said determinedly. Still looking a bit terrified, Sana shrugged on the shirt. She began to slowly do up the buttons with violently shaking hands.   
“Here, let me,” Nayeon said. She took the soft fabric of the shirt into her hands and, starting from the bottom began to do up Sana’s shirt wordlessly. She chuckled to herself, she would much rather be unbuttoning her shirt than doing it up.  
The room was silent, save for the sound of the two girls’ breaths and the muffled noise from outside of the changing room.   
When she reached the top button, instead of doing it up, Nayeon smoothed out the collar. She looked up at Sana’s petrified face. Her hand found its way to the other girl’s cheek. Like a magnet, Nayeon was drawn closer to the other girl.  
“I believe it’s my turn,” she muttered, her eyes focussed on Sana’s lips. She leant closer, ready to capture the younger girl’s lips in a kiss more tender than any kiss they had shared before. But Sana stepped back before their lips could connect. She removed Nayeon’s hand from her cheek.  
“I’m not sure we should play this game anymore,” the Japanese girl muttered, turning away while tucking her shirt into her trousers.  
Shocked, Nayeon questioned irritably, “What? Why stop now? It’s not like your parents are going to sense that you’re kissing a girl,”  
Sana froze for a moment and then continued with putting her shoes on.  
“It’s not a good idea,” she replied quietly.  
Nayeon frowned.  
“Sana, are you saying that all the kisses we’ve had recently, are you saying that they were a mistake?” she asked quietly, her voice full of hurt and disappointment. Sana focussed on her laces, her hands still shook and her expression was guilty.  
“No, of course not. I started it. But, I think that we should stop it now, before we get carried away,” the Japanese girl said. Nayeon sighed.  
“Fine, if you say so,”  
“I don’t regret kissing you,” Sana suddenly interjected.   
“Good. Whatever,” Nayeon replied, putting an end to the conversation. She wiped tears away with her eye makeup. Nayeon knew that the game would end at some point, she just didn’t expect Sana to end it. She had noticed that the Japanese girl had been acting strange all morning and there were rumours of a confrontation between Sana and her ex. Nayeon was disappointed that that had affected the other girl so much. But she wasn’t surprised. 

It was almost time for her duet.   
Tzuyu was on stage with her scene partner doing a bit of Titanic. Nayeon imagined that there wasn’t a dry eye in the audience.   
From her place in the wings, Nayeon looked across the stage and locked eyes with Sana. The Japanese girl must have been watching her. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.  
The scene on stage finished and the actors took a bow.   
Tzuyu wished Nayeon luck as she left the stage. Nayeon barely registered the tall girl’s words. Her eyes were still locked with Sana’s. It was time to get this damn duet over and done with. Nayeon didn’t have to interact with Sana after this was over. Perhaps it was better that she didn’t.   
While the stage was dark, a couple of stage hands dragged off the Titanic props and replaced them with that dingy bed.   
Sana and Nayeon walked towards each other quickly.   
Wringing her hands absently, the younger girl perched on the end of the bed and Nayeon crouched in front of her. She looked up at Sana’s anxious expression. Fuck never interacting again. Fuck that. She took Sana’s still shaking hands into her own and pressed a gentle kiss against the knuckles. The other girl gasped audibly. Nayeon looked up at her and nodded, trying to convey the words ‘It will be okay’.   
Shit. Sana really did look at her like she was her world. Nayeon barely registered the lights coming on and the music starting. Sana released an audibly shaky breath and Nayeon felt herself smile shyly.  
Her body went into autopilot and she began to sing (not missing the cue like she usually did when she got distracted by the other girl).  
“You are sunlight…” Nayeon started the song softly. She meant it.   
She continued to sing her verse, their eyes never left one another’s, even when Sana pressed her soft lips in a gentle kiss against her knuckles. She could hear the younger girl’s breathing.   
When Sana started to sing her verse, she reached out to touch Nayeon’s cheek, like usual, hut her hand instead brushed a stray lock of hair out the brunette’s face and then cupped her jawline. She seemed to lean forwards slightly.  
Nayeon stood up a couple of counts earlier than expected. It didn’t matter. She pulled Sana’s head into her chest. Instead of settling on her hips like usual, Sana’s arms wrapped around Nayeon’s waist. Instinctively, Nayeon pulled the other girl deeper into her chest. Sana must have been able to hear how Nayeon’s heart raced.  
Reluctantly, the older girl pulled away to sing the next part of the song.   
“Your moon still floats on high,” Sana sang loudly and clearly, the smile on her face seemed so genuine that it made Nayeon giggle shyly.   
They reached the crescendo of the chorus, they stood at opposite ends of the bed with their hands outstretched to each other. Nayeon’s fingers were shaking. As were Sana’s.   
A beat too early, Nayeon rushed towards the other girl and leapt into her arms. She half expected Sana to drop her, but the Japanese girl caught her effortlessly and span her around. She was lowered onto the bed. The two girls sat facing each other.   
This was different.  
Usually Sana would sit next to her, but today they sat facing.  
Nayeon saw Sana’s expression.  
Her lips were parted, her cheeks flushed. Her eyes locked onto Nayeon’s. They were full of fear and worry. They glistened slightly. Sana’s dark eyes dropped onto Nayeon’s lips.   
As the instrumental music built, Sana’s hand wondered onto the older girl’s cheek, the hand rested there gently.   
Sana murmured something. If Nayeon had read her lips correctly, she had whispered, “Fuck them.”  
Suddenly, Sana lurched forwards and crashed her lips into Nayeon’s. Without any hesitation, Nayeon kissed her back equally as passionately.   
Both girls sat up and pressed their bodies closer together. Nayeon’s arm snaked behind Sana’s head. The younger girl slipped her tongue between Nayeon’s parted lips. She tried her best not to moan. The brunette felt a tear drop down her cheek. She was certain that it wasn’t her own.  
The music softened again and the two pulled apart and rested their foreheads together.   
Sana was panting loudly, despite them only kissing for a bar or two of music. Nayeon chuckled, making the other smile.   
The song continued naturally, the words left Nayeon’s lips out of their own accord.  
“You are sunlight and I moon, Joined here, Bright'ning the sky, With the flame, Of love,” she sang softly. She was no longer singing the words as a character. The words were no longer for the audience’s amusement. Now, this was Nayeon singing to Sana. And she meant every word.   
Sana joined in with the harmony for the final section of the song. Their voices melded together beautifully. Nayeon’s hands came to rest on Sana’s hips.   
As they sung their last word, their voices drifting off, Nayeon let herself drift closer to the other girl. They met in the middle, their lips melding together just as beautifully as their voices.   
As the outro of the music played, the two girls kissed tenderly. The passion built and Nayeon fell backwards onto the bed, her lips chased by Sana. By the time Sana was laid on top of her, the lights had dimmed completely.   
The auditorium was silent.  
Sana pulled away with a shy smile, her breathing was louder than Nayeon’s own breathless pants.  
“Sorry,” she whispered, “It wasn’t my turn.”  
“it’s okay,” Nayeon whispered back, “We don’t need to play anymore.”  
Sana smiled softly, “Bows?”  
She jumped off the bed and held out her hand for the older girl, who took it and allowed herself to be pulled off the bed.  
They faced the audience, their hands still entwined.  
The harsh lights hit them again. Nayeon winced a little.   
The audience was still eerily quiet.   
Suddenly, one person started clapping. Nayeon had a sneaky suspicion that it might have been Momo. The sound of one lonely clap quickly turned into a raucous applause. The girls side stage whooped and hollered as Nayeon and Sana bowed to the audience, refusing to let go of each other’s hands. Nayeon could see that a few members of the audience were on their feet.  
The older girl glanced at the girl beside her and beamed, her heart was racing at a hundred miles per hour. They bowed one last time and ran off stage.  
They were met in the wings by Jeongyeon’s open arms.  
“That was amazing!” she gushed, careful not to let the audience hear her, “Way to go out with bang!”  
Completely dazed, Nayeon and Sana made their into the corridor, which was now empty as the rest of the actors were hidden in the wings.   
“So,” Nayeon broke the silence, “we kissed on stage.”  
“Yeah,” Sana replied breathlessly.   
Suddenly she turned away and laughed sharply.  
“Wow, I think I just fucked up,” she laughed loudly. “I kissed you, a girl! In front of everyone.”  
She shook her head with a grin. Suddenly concerned, Nayeon frowned.  
“Why do you look so happy?” she asked, “Your parents…”  
“Fuck them,” Sana laughed, “Fuck them! I kissed you in front of everyone. And I don’t ever want to stop.”  
She turned back to the older with a wide grin. Nayeon smirked.  
“Then don’t,” she commanded.  
In the silence that preceded it, Sana glanced down at Nayeon’s lips and bit her own lip. Her lip curved up into a smirk. The butterflies in Nayeon’s stomach completely lost it. The pressure in her lower belly built.   
They collided once again in a searing kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Nayeon and Sana made out on stage. And back stage. Stupid or brave? 
> 
> Also, if you haven't seen/listened to Sun and Moon, I would absolutely recommend it. Partially because I love that song, but also because I feel that it might make their duet scenes make more sense (and more intimate) if you have watched the clips.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!  
> Another slow update so sorry about that. I'm trying to finish this fic before I go back to uni but not sure I will, so y'all might just have to put up with very slow updates.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a lot shorter than previous chapters so I'm sorry about that but the next chapter should be quite a long one.  
> I should mention that there is a lot of homophobia going on here, we finally meet Sana's parents so it was inevitable. I tried to be funny at the end of the chapter so hopefully that will make up for it.  
> Thanks for reading!

The theatre club took their final bow of the week to the sound of enthusiastic applause. Nayeon looked out into the audience and picked out familiar faces in the crowd.  
There were the kids from lgbt society stood on their feet hollering loudly. There were Mina’s parents, wiping tears from their eyes as they clapped on their feet. And there were Sana’s parents, amongst the few people who had remained seated, clapping with stony expressions. Oh look, there was that girl who used to shove Nayeon against the lockers every day until the end of freshman year, she was on her feet and crying. And there was that boy who once spray painted numerous slurs all over her locker, he was whooping loudly. Funny how things changed.  
Jeongyeon took a step forward out of the line and gestured for the stage hands to come and take a bow with the actors. They all shyly complied. While Jeongyeon was focussed on getting the shy stage hands to come onto the spotlight, Chaeyoung snuck off stage. She returned with a box of chocolates and a card, which Nayeon had bought for their director and got the cast to sign. The short girl returned to the stage and presented the gifts to Jeongyeon with a deep bow. On her other side, Tzuyu handed their director a microphone.  
Sounding like she might burst into tears at any moment, Jeongyeon began to speak into the microphone.  
“Thank you, audience, for coming tonight and receiving us with welcome arms. We realise that some of the topics in our showcase tonight are still fairly taboo, but I believe that through art, we can help society begin to accept those things which may be taboo,” the director said clearly, struggling slightly to hold all three things in her hands. After a short pause, Jeongyeon continued, “A huge thank you to our stage hands who we managed to bribe into lugging things onto the stage at the very last minute. Thank you to everyone who helped with costuming. Thank you to everyone who has helped with show week. Thank you to the parents for giving birth to such talented people and for buying tickets to see our little show. Thank you to school council president Park Jihyo who took time out of her busy schedule to sing for us, despite not being a part of theatre club. Thank you to the school who let us run this show and use the theatre. And most of all, thank you to the actors. You were a dream to work with and I couldn’t have made my dream come true without you.”  
Having said her speech, the director promptly burst into tears.  
The actors reformed their line and the stage hands awkwardly shuffled back off stage. (Most of) the audience stood up once more as they took their very final bow.  
The curtains closed slowly for the last time.  
As they closed, Nayeon burst out laughing. Many of the actors surrounding her burst out laughing as well.  
“We did it!” Chaeyoung cried, punching the air.  
Jeongyeon made a blubbering sound as her girlfriend enveloped her into a tight hug and pressed kisses to her wet cheeks.  
“I’m so proud of you all,” Jeongyeon blubbered loudly, swiping at her eyes with one hand. The other reached out to pull the closest person to her into a hug. It just happened to be Tzuyu, who let herself be pulled along without question. The tall girl was crying too. So of course, that set Momo off. Nayeon, herself, felt her eyes sting with tears.  
“I can’t believe this is it,” she exclaimed, fighting back those pecky tears. Jeongyeon hiccupped with a sad smile.  
“Nah, ‘What is love?’ will never truly be over, as long as we remember it fondly,” the director said wisely. “I think I discovered what love is,” she said, “It’s you guys.”  
Nayeon immediately burst into loud, violent tears. Through her blurry eyes, she could see that half of the boys were sobbing too, along with Jihyo and even Sana. Mina’s eyes were sparkling like diamonds. Chaeyoung clung to the youngest Japanese girl like a sad koala.  
Dahyun laughed suddenly.  
“We are such a mess,” she said.  
The soppy moment was completed with a heartfelt group hug.  
As Nayeon pulled away, Jeongyeon reached out and ruffled her hair.  
“Yah! I’m older than you!” she exclaimed, batting away the younger girl’s hand. Their director laughed loudly.  
“Nayeon-ah! Sana-yah! Your duet was amazing today! Who’d have thought that those two girls who wouldn’t even look at each other when we started rehearsing would be kissing in their final performance?” she said, beaming. Nayeon felt her cheeks heat up and she looked down, still wiping her tears off her cheeks (thank god for water proof make up).  
“Whose idea was it to kiss in the final performance?” Chaeyoung asked innocently, “It must have killed you to keep it a secret from us.”  
Sana and Nayeon locked eyes and smiled awkwardly.  
“It was a mutual decision, I guess. Quite last minute, too. We like to keep you on your toes,” Nayeon laughed awkwardly. She noticed Momo’s side-eye. That girl was a lot smarter when she came to this kind of thing than she let on.  
“Well, you guys sold it all right,” Jeongyeon laughed boisterously once more.  
The theatre club hugged one last time and began to make their way off the stage.  
“Don’t forget,” Jeongyeon shouted, “The party tonight is fancy dress.”  
Someone groaned. It was Mina. 

As they stepped off stage, Sana seemed to hang back. The rest of the girls entered their tiny make-shift changing room, but Sana held Nayeon’s wrist, preventing her from entering the changing room.  
“We, um, should probably talk,” she said anxiously. Nayeon cringed internally and put a calm, innocent smile on her face.  
“If you’re going to tell me that that kiss on stage was just due to adrenaline or something like that, then save it. I don’t want to hear it,” she said sharply. Sana looked taken back.  
“I wasn’t,” she replied, the confusion in her voice evident. Nayeon looked down, ashamed.  
“Sorry, I guess I assumed the worst,”  
“Yeah, well, I don’t blame you. That does sound like something I’d say,” Sana muttered. “I just meant, we should probably talk about what it means, like, for us.”  
“Okay. I agree,” Nayeon said eagerly, “But not now. I’m helping Tzuyu set up for the party so we’re getting a lift to her house with Momo and I wouldn’t put it past Tzuyu to make her leave without me if I’m not ready.”  
Sana laughed awkwardly.  
“Yeah, okay. I said I’d help out too, so I guess I’ll see you there?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer. Her boldness returned, Nayeon winked.  
“Can’t wait to see your costume,” she muttered, her voice low.  
The two girls squeezed their way into the already full changing room to grab their stuff, not bothering to get changed since they would be changing into their costume at Tzuyu’s.

Sana bounded out of the changing room, still in her duet costume, with her other costume and school uniform in a bag that was slung over her shoulder. Jihyo and Jeongyeon flanked her, since they would be catching a lift with her and her parents over to Tzuyu’s big old house. Dahmichaeng followed them closely behind. The rest of the club had already set off, but Chaeyoung had insisted in taking her wig off, which took longer than expected, and Jeongyeon had to go and sort a few things out before they all left.  
As they approached the doorway, Sana began to awkwardly slow down.  
Her parents, who she was already panicked about seeing, were currently in a heated conversation with Mina’s parents. Slowly, Sana approached the group of adults, closely followed by the rest of the group. As she got closer, she could make out the furiously whispered Japanese words.  
“It was completely unnecessary,” she heard her mother whisper angrily, “And to think, all of those children in the audience. Impressionable children.”  
“Is it not a good thing? To include that sort of thing? Something so close to the hearts of so many of those actors? How cold hearted of you to say that, especially when your daughter was involved.” Mina’s father reprimanded, his cheeks red.  
“A good thing? You really must be insane, Myoui-San. It’s all just propaganda,” Mr Minatozaki grumbled, “I have half a mind to ask for my money back.”  
“You must be so disappointed in your daughter,” Sana’s mother spat. It was clear from her words and her expression that she too was disappointed in her own daughter. Sana turned red with second hand embarrassment when Mina froze beside her. She was so glad that no others in the group understood Japanese well enough to understand the quickly spoken words.  
“We’re proud to have Mina as a daughter. She is a wonderful, talented girl and we wouldn’t change anything about her for the world,” Mina’s mother spat back.  
“We’ve heard the rumours about her. It's a sickness, not something to be proud of,” Mr Minatozaki growled.  
Sana’s mother turned her head and made eye contact with her daughter. Awkwardly, Sana waved and walked quickly towards the group of adults. She politely greeted her parents and turned to bow before Mina’s parents, her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment and anger. Her father simply nodded at her while her mother gave her a strained smile.  
Meanwhile, Mina’s parents embraced their daughter in a hug. Once they pulled away, Mina turned and bowed deeply to Sana’s parents, the unspoken apology for what she did to upset them (which was simply liking girls) was evident in the depth of her bow.  
The other girls greeted the adults with polite bows, as they should. Mina’s parents showered the girls with delighted praise, congratulating Jeongyeon for putting on such a wonderful show. Sana’s mother turned to the girls, still with a strained smile.  
“You have a lovely singing voice,” she addressed Jihyo, who smiled shyly. She looked at Jeongyeon, who was beside her.  
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you, Yoo Jeongyeon. You look much better with long hair, as opposed to that boy’s haircut you used to wear. This is much more feminine and pretty,” the woman announced. Jeongyeon blinked, clearly taken back by the back-handed complement, and then accepted the complement with an awkward smile. Sana’s mother’s eyes glanced over Mina and Chaeyoung in disapproval, before landing on Dahyun.  
“Ah, Kim Dahyun, what a talented pianist you are. A very respectable talent,” the woman said sincerely. Dahyun’s face brightened a little, but she looked very awkward as she stood beside her short friend.  
“Shall we head off then?” Sana’s father cleared his throat and spoke in a deep, booming voice. He turned to the other set of parents. “So nice to see you again. It’s been a pleasure,” he said insincerely in Korean.  
“Likewise,” replied Mr Myoui through gritted teeth.  
Sana waved awkwardly to the other girls, trying to make eye contact with Mina so that she could mouth a silent apology. The other Japanese girl avoided her gaze. She didn’t blame her. 

The car journey from school to the location of the after-show party (Tzuyu’s house) was unbearably awkward for everyone involved.  
Sana was squished up in the back seat in between Jeongyeon and Jihyo. Their costume bags, make up bags and general school bags were strewn across their laps since Sana’s parents didn’t offer for them to put their things in the boot and nobody wanted to ask. Jihyo had placed her hand on top of Sana’s for support.  
It was completely silent in the car. The radio had been turned off. The only sound was the huffing noise that Sana’s father would make whenever another driver did something that displeased him. The Japanese girl kept on making eye contact with her mother in the mirror. She was very aware of her mother’s watchful eyes being directed on the three girls in the backseat.  
Jeongyeon had folded her hands in her lap and stared absently out of the window. Jihyo’s large eyes flicked between the girl beside her and the reflection of that girl’s mother in the car’s side mirror.  
When they were very close to their destination, after a good fifteen minutes of awkward silence, Jihyo cleared her throat.  
“So, um, did you enjoy the showcase?” Jihyo asked, sounding rather awkward. Sana fought back a groan and bit her lip. She tore her eyes away from the car’s mirror when she noticed her mother look up into it.  
“Yes,” Mrs Minatozaki answered curtly, “Up until the last two numbers.” Sana felt Jeongyeon stiffen beside her. She willed the slightly older girl to keep her mouth shut. Unfortunately, Jeongyeon couldn’t do that.  
“Sana was in the second to last number. Did you not enjoy watching your daughter perform?” Jeongyeon asked, her tone pointed and challenging.  
The Japanese girl saw her mother tense up in the mirror. Her father’s hands tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. However, the question was ignored.  
“We found the last bit of the showcase a little difficult to watch,” Mr Minatozaki said, his deep voice seemed to echo around the car and between Sana’s ears. “We believe that the, erm, homosexual activity was rather unnecessary.”  
Jeongyeon scoffed loudly, and rather rudely. Sana bit her lip once again. Jihyo looked like she was regretting ever speaking.  
“There were a lot of children in the audience. We were worried that they would get the wrong idea from your showcase, especially the last scene,” Mrs Minatozaki put in her two cents. Sana’s breathing rate began to increase rapidly.  
“The wrong idea?” scoffed Jeongyeon, “Do you mean the idea that homosexuality is acceptable? Is that what you mean?”  
“Yes,” Sana’s mother answered curtly. Jeongyeon was bristling. Sana was panicking.  
The slightly older girl muttered something under breath. It sounded a bit like ‘disgusting’, but Sana couldn’t be sure that she heard it right.  
“We just found the last piece difficult watch. We thought it glorified homosexuality and was just completely unnecessary. Whoever wrote that piece needs to seriously think about their life choices,” Mrs Minatozaki said, repeating what had been previously mention.  
“I wrote that piece,” Jeongyeon announced, her voice low.  
The two adults in the front of the car remained silent. Jeongyeon opened her mouth to say something else, then closed it again. Sana let out a sigh of relief that the older girl didn’t continue to speak.  
The car remained silent for the rest of the journey.

Thankfully for all people involved, it didn’t take much longer for the car to reach the Chou residence. The house was large, easily three storeys, and detached. It had a large front garden and Sana imagined that the garden behind the house was just as large, perhaps even larger. People weren’t joking when they said that the Chous were loaded.  
As soon as the car came to a stop, Jihyo and Jeongyeon quickly, and very politely, thanked the Minatozakis for driving them, grabbed their stuff and practically leapt out of the car. Sana tried to follow them. She hopped out of the car with her costume for the party and slammed the door shut. Quickly, she began to hurry behind the other two girls but was soon halted.  
“Minatozaki Sana. A word,” her father said loudly, his head sticking out of the open car window.  
Gingerly, the Japanese girl shuffled over to the car door.  
Silently, her father looked her up and down in disapproval.  
“You never told us about that duet with Im Nayeon,” he spat out the name like it was a curse. Sana gulped.  
“I told you that I was singing a duet from ‘Miss Saigon’ with her,” Sana replied sheepishly.  
“I thought you told us that you were just singing the song,” Mrs Minatozaki said accusingly, “You didn’t mention that that Yoo Jeongyeon girl had you… kissing that Nayeon girl like she made those other girls kiss. Disgusting, the lot of it.”  
“I knew that Yoo Jeongyeon was trouble from the moment she cut her hair like a boy,” Mr Minatazaki ranted smugly.  
Sana curled up her hands into fists and held on tightly to her trousers.  
“It wasn’t Jeongyeon, mother,” she found herself saying, “That kiss wasn’t scripted.”  
Her mother’s face contorted with disgust.  
“You mean she kissed you? On stage? That’s out of order, taking advantage of you like that when you were on stage,” the woman exclaimed. Her father’s knuckles got whiter and whiter as his grip on the steering wheel continued to tighten.  
Annoyed by her mother’s insinuation that Nayeon was some kind of predatory lesbian that took advantage of Sana when she couldn’t push her away, and letting her rebellious streak kick in, Sana folded her arms.  
“Actually, mother, I kissed her,” Sana spat, and immediately regretted it when she saw the anger and disgust on her parents’ faces. After a moments silence, Sana felt herself revert into the girl that craved her parents’ approval. Seeing the disgust of their faces made her want to burst into tears and beg for forgiveness, promising to never even look at Im Nayeon again. But Sana had come too far to be able to do that. Sadly, she dropped her arms and looked down at the ground.  
“Are you mad?” she asked, sounding like a frightened little girl.  
“Not mad, just disappointed,” Mrs Minatozaki said, her voice surprisingly soft, contrasting to the vicious edge of her earlier words. Sana looked up with a confused frown. “You’ve always been easily lead,” the woman said with a cluck, “You’re just confused. You’ve been influenced by those girls you think are your friends.”  
“Huh?” Sana let out a noise of confusion. Startled, she blinked at her parents. Her father sighed and released the steering wheel.  
“Consider yourself lucky that we are letting you go to this party, young madam, after what you did today,” he growled, “And stay away from the Yoo Jeongyeon girl. Stay away from the Son girl and Myoui-San’s daughter as well. They’re bad influences. Most of all, stay away from Im Nayeon, or there’ll be consequences.”  
“Yes father,” Sana whispered.  
“Why don’t you make better friends with Chou Tzuyu? She’s a lovely girl. A future candidate for school council president, I believe. And that pianist girl too, what was she called? Kim Dahyun. Those girls would make better company than the likes of Yoo Jeongyeon and Myoui Mina,” Mrs Minatozaki said with a false smile.  
Sana returned the false smile with sweet one of her own. She fought back a scoff.  
Yeah, because Tzuyu and Dahyun were so much straighter.  
“I’ll stay away from them,” she promised insincerely, “Can I go now?”  
Her father gestured for her to leave and she politely said her goodbyes.  
As quick as she could possibly go, Sana turned around and rushed towards the front door of Tzuyu’s house. Her chest was heaving.  
That could have gone worse.

With a nervous huff, Momo looked at her appearance in the bathroom mirror. She couldn’t help but chuckle. The girl reflected back at her looked nothing like the nerdy Hirai Momo that everyone was used to. This girl didn’t have a nerdy bob (well, it was much longer than a bob now anyway), instead this girl’s hair was tied back in a ponytail, the fringe delicately covered her forehead. This girl didn’t wear the thick glasses that, for many people, had become synonymous with Hirai Momo (she thought she might as well make the most of the contacts that she’d had to put in for the show). She also didn’t wear the ill-fitted uniform that most people were accustomed to seeing her in. No. This girl was wearing a tight black high-necked top which had a circular cut-out on her chest and tight, rather short leather shorts. This girl wore thigh-high boots which drew attention to her muscular thighs, one of which had a gun-holster strapped to it.  
Satisfied with her appearance, Momo shrugged on a long, dark green leather jacket that had been sitting in her wardrobe for years (she once attempted to dress edgy but failed miserably due to her glasses, braces and typical nerdy demeanour).  
Momo walked out of Tzuyu’s bathroom (an ensuite!) and placed her folded school uniform inside her bag, which was on the younger girl’s bed. She anxiously wondered out of Tzuyu’s bedroom and made her way into the kitchen, where the rest of the squad was.  
Except only Tzuyu was stood in the kitchen.  
“Is Nayeon not back from her booze run?” Momo asked the tall girl, making her jump ever so slightly.  
The tall girl shook her head, her eyes taking in Momo’s appearance.  
Her silence allowed the Japanese girl to fully take in Tzuyu’s own appearance. She was leant nonchalantly against one of the counters with a slight smirk on her pretty face. Her dark hair was loosely tied back into a ponytail. She wore a black suit with a white shirt underneath. It was buttoned all the way up to the top and she wore a bolo tie round her neck which had a plain silver clasp and plain black aglets.  
Yeah. It was hot.  
Momo wasn’t sure what her girlfriend was supposed to be, but she would die a happy girl if Tzuyu decided to just wear suits for the rest of her life.  
With a smirk, Momo sidled up to the younger girl and leant alluringly against the counter.  
“So, come here often?” she asked flirtatiously. Tzuyu looked at her with a frown.  
“I live here,” she said blankly.  
“Yah! Play along for me!” Momo exclaimed then pouted adorably. The younger girl rolled her dark eyes with a fond smile.  
“Okay, unnie,” then her expression changed and posed in a masculine fashion, looking Momo up and down, her eyes focussing on the older girl’s exposed thighs. Momo suddenly felt a bit naked and resisted the urge to attempt to cover her thighs with her small hands.  
“What’s a beautiful girl like you doing in a place like this?” Tzuyu asked, deepening her voice comically, “It’s dangerous here.”  
“I’m a dangerous girl,” Momo replied seductively, putting her hands on Tzuyu’s waist beneath her blazer.  
The younger girl suddenly turned away dramatically.  
“You shouldn’t be here. I’m a bad person. I-I’ve done bad things,” Tzuyu revealed dramatically in her man’s voice.  
Trying her hardest not to laugh, Momo grabbed the taller girl’s face and looked into her eyes.  
“I’ve done bad things too,” she whispered, “I’m not a good person.”  
“Ah, then why am I falling for you?” Tzuyu asked cheesily, her voice getting deeper by the second.  
“Maybe we make each other better,” Momo said as dramatically as she could, grabbed Tzuyu’s collar and pulled her in for a kiss. It was slow and soft but Momo thought it was perfect.  
“What K-drama is this?” someone laughed loudly.  
Momo and Tzuyu pulled away from each other and burst out into giggles.  
“Hello, Jeongyeon-unnie, Jihyo-unnie,” Tzuyu greeted the other two girls softly, “Thanks for letting yourselves in,” she added sarcastically.  
The two girls stood awkwardly by the counter with their costume bags. Jeongyeon shrugged.  
Now that Momo was looking at them instead of her beautiful girlfriend, she noticed how dazed and almost shell-shocked the two girls looked. Jeongyeon was clinging onto Jihyo’s arm with a frown on her face.  
“Sana…?” Tzuyu asked hesitantly.  
“Her parents wanted a word,” Jihyo exclaimed sombrely. The rest of the group nodded to themselves in understanding.  
Momo began to absently tap her fingers on the counter.  
“So, how was the car journey with twenty gay-teen’s parents of the year?” she asked jokingly.  
Jeongyeon let out a loud, angry huff while Jihyo shook her head.  
“They practically told Jeongyeon that she needs to rethink her life choices and I think they might ask for their money back all because the play showed two girls in love,” Jihyo explained angrily.  
“Wow, what a knobhead,” Tzuyu tutted. Momo gasped at the maknae’s language. She didn’t think that she’d ever heard her girlfriend swear before. She’d be lying if she said that she didn’t find it attractive. “It’s a miracle that Sana-unnie hasn’t turned out to be a complete arsehole.”  
Jeongyeon laughed, “Oh, Sana used to be a proper arsehole.”  
“Yeah, she’s better now though,” Jihyo nodded in agreement.  
“Well, that must be Nayeon’s influence,” Jeongyeon added jokingly. The other girls laughed.  
“Don’t be silly, unnie,” Tzuyu said with a smirk, “Nayeon is the biggest narcissist going.”  
The group of girls laughed. Even Momo laughed at that. Nayeon may be her best friend, but she had to admit that to onlookers, Nayeon’s ego seemed to be the size of the school.  
“Did you guys see them making out backstage after their duet?” Momo asked the group teasingly.  
“Oh my god, yes! I think my eyes need bleaching!” Jeongyeon said dramatically.  
“I thought Dahyun was going to pass out when we saw them,” Tzuyu chuckled. “They were really going at it.”  
Jihyo laughed, “Do they really think that we thought that their stage kiss planned? We all know that it wasn’t.”  
The group laughed again.  
Momo was about to comment on how she thought that Nayeon and Sana should just get together already when the door slammed loudly.  
“Ah, speak of the devil,” Jeongyeon commented.  
Sana stormed into the kitchen looking extremely flustered and slightly pissed off. She slammed her costume bag onto the counter and pouted.  
“Are you okay, Sana-unnie?” Tzuyu asked softly.  
“First of all,” she began. Momo could have sworn that she heard Jeongyeon groan. “My parents seem to think Dahyun is straight. Who looks at Dahyun and thinks ‘ah that is one straight-ass girl right there’? I get them thinking that Tzuyu is straight. Tzuyu thought that Tzuyu was straight until Momo gave her lap dance but Dahyun? Seriously? Secondly, they think I kissed Nayeon because I’m confused and I’ve been led astray by the evil lesbians. Oh, they also seem to think that Jeongyeon is the devil.”  
The rest of the group remained silent as Sana ranted about her parents. Jihyo gravitated towards the older girl and began to rub her arm comfortingly.  
“But, hey! At least they didn’t disown me!” Sana laughed, sounding a little unhinged. The Japanese girl turned to Tzuyu with a straight face, “By the way, I fully intend to get trashed tonight.”  
Tzuyu blinked blankly, looking a little bit shell-shocked by Sana’s speech.  
“Okay, unnie,” she said softly. Momo reached out and gently held the tall girl’s hand. She smiled at her girlfriend comfortingly, and received a shy, dazzling one in return.  
Having received a comforting hug from each of the girls, including Jeongyeon (that was a bit of shock for everyone), Sana looked around the room in confusion.  
“Where’s Nayeon? Is she still getting changed?”  
“She’s popped out to the shop to get alcohol,” Momo explained, “Tzuyu’s parents only have expensive stuff and they only left us with one bottle of cheap wine.”  
Sana nodded thoughtfully.  
“Pour me a glass, will you? I’m gonna go get changed.”  
Momo watched her fellow Japanese pal wander off with her costume in her hand.  
It seemed like Sana really was intent on going on a proper bender.  
Although, Momo didn’t blame her.  
Jihyo and Jeongyeon soon followed, they went off to get changed too. Although Tzuyu made them promise that they would get changed separately because she didn’t want them fucking in her room before the party even started.  
It wasn’t long before Dahmichaeng arrived.  
Chaeyoung and Dahyun ran into the kitchen loudly, waving about water bottles which Momo wasn’t convinced contained water. Apparently the three girls had all got changed for the party at Mina’s house as quickly as they could and then got Mina’s dad to drive them over. Also, they had all apparently had a shot before they left, as well as drinking the liquor that was in their water bottles (which Momo wasn’t sure how they got their hands on).  
Apparently they had come as characters from that Leon film that Chaeyoung liked. Chaeyoung had on a white dress, like Marilyn Monroe, and had let her long, dark hair tumble down her back elegantly. Dahyun wore an over-sized white jumper with a dark trench coat over the top. She had on a pair of sunglasses that, judging by the way she kept on taking them on and off and then posing in them, she seemed to think were pretty cool.  
Mina shuffled grumpily around the corner and Momo had try her hardest not to burst out laughing.  
She had on a pair of brown slacks and an emerald green shirt that would have looked quite cool, if it weren't for the brown cardboard box that was around her waist. Brown suspenders kept it in place. The Japanese girl wore a headband which was decorated with green pipe cleaners. Each pipe cleaner had green paper in the shape of a leaf attached to it.  
Momo looked the Japanese girl up and down and then smiled brightly, chuckling to herself.  
“I’m a fucking houseplant,” Mina said grumpily, holding her arms out.  
Laughing loudly, Dahyun skipped up to the ‘houseplant’ and threw her arms around her neck.  
“Daon loves his houseplant,” she giggled and pressed a quick kiss to Mina’s blushing cheek.  
Chaeyoung came around and held Mina by her ‘pot’ (the cardboard box around her waist).  
“Chaetilda loves houseplant too,” the short girl announced as she kissed Mina’s other cheek.  
Mina made eye contact with Momo and grimaced desperately.  
“Help me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... things could have gone worse for Sana.  
> But we have another party chapter next, so get ready for (probably low-key) chaos.  
> For reference, Momo is wearing the cheer up outfit and Tzuyu is wearing the pulp fiction outfit from what is love.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the long awaited party chapter is finally here!
> 
> Once again, it's time to play spot the 'what is love' reference.
> 
> A couple of the scenes, particularly the dahmichaeng, are something which I had envisioned since the conception of this fic so I had a lot of fun writing those. I hope y'all enjoy them too.
> 
> Fun fact: I wrote one of the sections of this chapter while tipsy on a train. Have fun guessing which one (I think it's pretty obvious tbh).

“Mina! Mina! Hey, Minari! Watch me do a keg stand!”  
“Dahyun no!”  
“Dahyun yes!”

The after-show party had started out well enough. The nine theatre club girls had started by sitting in the living room on the floor with their cups of alcohol. Nayeon had returned from her booze trip with a bottle of vodka, a bottle of wine and six-pack of beer. As soon as she arrived, Jeongyeon, dressed as the dead guy from ‘Love letter’ slipped the older girl some money and took the six-pack off her. Jihyo, dressed in the iconic red jumper and skirt combo from the same film as Jeongyeon, slyly took the wine out of Nayeon’s hands and replaced it with some money. While Jihyo, Sana and Tzuyu helped themselves to wine, Nayeon poured herself and Momo a drink. Chaeyoung and Dahyun were taking it in turns to pour liquid from their “water” bottles into a cup for Mina, who accepted it shyly.   
Nayeon had taken her place on the floor between Momo and Jeongyeon and taken the time to appreciate everyone’s costumes. Dahmichaeng’s throuple costume was probably the highlight of the group, although she did have to admit that Tzuyu looked very handsome in her suit and Jeonghyo’s couple outfit was cute too. She even thought that Momo looked pretty hot in her costume, but it felt weird even thinking that about her best friend.   
She didn’t really know what Sana’s costume had to do with ‘What is love’ but she looked super cute and attractive anyway. The Japanese girl was wearing a top and skirt that almost looked like a school uniform and she wore a pink wig on her head. Who would have thought that Sana would look so cute in pink hair? Perhaps she was from some cute anime that Nayeon wasn’t familiar with, although being the nerd she was she would have expected herself to recognise an anime character. Anyway, her skirt was short and it was distracting.   
Nayeon, herself, had taken the easy route and gone as the devil because why the fuck not? Maybe the devil wants to be loved too. She wore a short, red dress and cheap, novelty devil horns.   
The group had chatted amongst themselves for a while. Nayeon had suggested that they play a drinking game to pass the time, and of course they had started to play ‘never have I ever’ because that was a really good idea.   
As always, it started off tame with Jihyo saying “never have I ever directed a play” and watching smugly as Jeongyeon was forced to drink alone. The next one was “I’ve never cried at school” and literally everyone drank.   
The ‘confessions’ continued to be tame for a bit. Chaeyoung and Dahyun giggled the whole way through, each of them clinging to the ‘houseplant’ that they were sat on either side of.   
It wasn’t long before their first guest arrived.  
In walked Kang Seulgi, holding the hand of a very short, and stunning, woman (shorter than Chaeyoung if you can believe it) who was holding the hand of another girl, who was somehow even shorter.  
“Hi guys!” the bear-like girl had greeted with a shy smile, “This is my girlfriend, Joohyun, and this is her girlfriend, Seungwan.”  
“Oh, how does that work?” Mina had asked, sounding rather curious. Chaeyoung and Dahyun had watched the three women in front of them with wide eyes.  
“Oh, Joohyun is super gay. I’m gay for Joohyun but she’s also gay for Seungwan and Seungwan’s really gay for Joohyun and I’m not gay for Seungwan.” The middle woman scoffed quietly.  
“We accept you here. We love and support all gays, no matter how many girlfriends you have,” Jihyo had said softly, already starting to slur her words, and hugged the three girls, who all looked a bit shocked. She then quickly whipped her head around and pointed at Mina, who at that moment in time had Dahyun rubbing their cheeks together like cats and Chaeyoung sniffing her neck, and shouted, “Looking at you, Minari!”  
The Japanese girl in question quickly took a long sip of her drink, possibly in an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks, but more likely because she significantly soberer than everyone else in the room.  
They continued the game when the three new gays sat down with them.  
“Never have I ever dated two girls at once!”   
Joohyun drank with a smirk. Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Mina all looked a little uncomfortable.  
“Never have I ever banged someone in the school dance studio!” shouted Sana.  
Blushing, Seulgi and Joohyun drank. Surprisingly, so did Jihyo and Jeongyeon.  
“Yah, you weren’t supposed to tell anyone about that,” Seulgi shot at Sana who laughed smugly, a faint blush dusted her cheeks, most likely from the alcohol.  
“Never have I ever wanted to snog Nayeon,” Jeongyeon fired back.  
Sana defiantly took a massive gulp of her drink, turning Nayeon into a blushing mess.   
Surprisingly, most of the circle drank. Gingerly, Mina, Chaeyoung, Dahyun, Seulgi and even Joohyun took a sip of their drink. Even Nayeon drank, she would absolutely get off with herself if she could. Tzuyu stared at Dahyun and Mina accusingly and cleared her throat.  
“I’m a simple girl,” replied Dahyun with a shrug, “I see a pretty girl, I get the urge to make out with her.”  
“And she has a really nice ass,” Chaeyoung muttered, blushing like a tomato. Dahyun looked like she might either keel over or burst into laughter at any minute while Mina avoided eye contact with everyone.   
“I did give you a nosebleed,” Nayeon nodded her head confidently, feeling rather smug.   
“That doesn’t explain why you drank though, Joohyun-unnie,” Seungwan, the girl Nayeon had just met, said bitterly. The tiny girl shrugged.  
“I like younger girls with a good pair of lungs.”

Within an hour, the party had got a lot busier. Some idiot had thought it would be a good idea to bring a few kegs. All of theatre club had arrived, along with several lads that were friends with the boys in the group. All the lgbt society was there as well, along with most of the student council and the whole dance team. Obviously, the people who were invited personally had brought a couple of pals along. There were quite a few people from the private school there as well. The cashier girl from the café, who Nayeon had invited on a whim, had brought her whole squad with her, and then some. The lights were turned down. Music was blasting through the speakers, making the air vibrate around them. People were dancing in the living room, chatting in the kitchen and playing drinking games in the dining room.  
Originally there was a massive game of ‘truth or dare’ in the living room, but Tzuyu had put a stop to that when someone dared Momo to kiss the person on her left, who happened to be Nayeon. And, not being one to back down from a challenge, Momo had grabbed Nayeon’s face with her tiny hands and planted one on her lips. To say Nayeon was surprised was an understatement. After that, Tzuyu had stood up and yelled,  
“That’s enough drinking games, let’s turn on the music, isn’t dancing fun? Let’s dance. No one dance with my girlfriend,”   
And then she grabbed Momo’s waist and started to dance with her, occasionally pressing kisses to her cheeks, forehead and lips and glaring at Nayeon. Momo just giggled and went along with it, happy to receive sweet kisses from her girlfriend.   
Nayeon was already quite tipsy. She was sat on the edge of the dining room, watching Seulgi’s girlfriend drink everyone else under the table. Oh wait, Seungwan and Seulgi weren’t actually dating, were they? Nayeon’s mistake. Although, she did see the way that they looked at each other and she wouldn’t be surprised if those two would end up together. Seriously though, how could someone so tiny drink so much?  
She overheard Dahyun and Chaeyoung having banter with some of lads.  
“Dude, someone should do a keg stand,” Chaeyoung said excitedly, “Wouldn’t it be funny to watch someone do a keg stand?”  
“Dude that’s fucking wild!” one lad shouted.  
“I bet I could do a keg stand!” Dahyun exclaimed.  
Chaeyoung snorted, “No you couldn’t. You’re like a noodle!” Her face softened when Dahyun pouted. “A very sexy noodle.” Dahyun’s face brightened and she even began to blush a little.   
“I bet you I could do a keg stand,” the blonde sniffed defiantly.   
“I’ll give you a tenner if you do it,” one of the lads piped up. Dahyun grinned.  
“Sold,”  
The small group ran through the crowd towards the kegs in the kitchen.  
Nayeon followed curiously.  
“Dahyun no!”  
“Dahyun yes!”  
Nayeon heard the shouts from Mina and Dahyun respectively.   
When she entered the kitchen, she saw Dahyun’s feet in the air. Her body was help up by the two lads, one of whom had been the one to offer the blonde girl money. Chaeyoung was laughing loudly and holding onto the table for support while Mina stared in horror and concern.   
A couple of minutes later, Dahyun was lowered back onto the ground.  
Her face was bright red and her hair was sticking up a bit on the back. Beer dribbled down her chin. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and silently raised her hands into the air. The room clapped enthusiastically. The blonde did a weird dance then turned to the boy beside her.  
“Cough up bitch,”  
Laughing, the boy gladly handed her a tenner from his wallet. Beaming, the blonde turned back to Mina.  
“Look, Minari! I just did a keg stand! Are you proud?”  
Mina smiled softly.  
“Sure,” she said, shaking her pipe-cleaner adorned head.  
Dahyun smiled at Nayeon.  
“Mina-unnie’s proud of me,” she announced smugly.   
Nayeon walked away, shaking her head in dismay.

Nayeon found herself dancing in the living room.   
Alcohol rushed through her veins making her feel light headed and free.   
It must have been an hour since she had watched Dahyun do a keg stand. At the time, she thought it was kind of stupid. Now, she felt nothing but respect for the blonde girl.   
Someone had convinced her to do shots with her. Fun times.   
Someone had brought some shitty cheap tequila and had made Nayeon a rather strong tequila and lemonade, which she had drunk gladly. More fun times.   
The music has very base heavy. Nayeon shook her hips to the beat, letting the music guide her movements. She allowed herself to look around the room.  
In one corner, Momo and Tzuyu were making out with each other on the sofa. On that same sofa sat one of the private school girls. Nayeon followed her surprised gaze to where that cashier girl was making out with the girl that Nayeon had christened ‘book girl’. The brunette nodded with approval. Good for her.   
Nayeon continued to look around the room.   
Her eyes landed on a slender girl who she had never seen before. She must have been from the private school. This girl wore a black top with a black leather skirt and black fishnet tights. Nayeon wasn’t sure who (or what) this girl was supposed to be, but she looked hot. The tights showed off her slender legs and the top showed off just the right amount of cleavage. She was pretty, gorgeous even. Her features were almost feline.   
When she made eye contact with Nayeon, all worries and thoughts of Sana disappeared from her mind. She forgot about how Sana had ignored her the whole night. How when Nayeon had asked Sana if they could talk, all the Japanese girl had done was shake her head and walk off. Three times. She forgot about how Sana danced with her earlier, her back dangerously close to Nayeon’s front, but as soon as the older girl had plucked up the courage to close the gap, Sana danced away, focussing her attention on other girls. Nayeon had been worried about Sana’s cold treatment of her from the moment she had walked into the house and found the Japanese girl avoiding eye contact. But when she made eye contact with this girl, her little gay brain had a melt-down. She wasn’t used to capturing the attention of hot girls. All she could focus on was the depth of this girl’s brown eyes. A smirk curved the girl’s lips upwards and Nayeon found herself smiling back. She lifted her hands up above her head and continued to move her hips seductively. The brunette closed her eyes and let her hands graze over her neck, her chest, her hips as they made their way back to her side.   
When she opened her eyes, the girl in black was making her way through the crowd of dancing teenagers, away from the small group of girls she was dancing with, towards Nayeon.  
With a smug grin that was matched by the other girl’s, Nayeon slinked towards the other girl, still dancing to the music.  
They danced together carelessly, their bodies moving closer and closer together until their fronts were pressed up against each other.  
The music pounded in Nayeon’s ears. Warmth began to pool in her lower stomach.  
The other girl wrapped her arms around Nayeon’s neck. The brunette rested her own arms on the other girl’s hips.   
Their hips swayed together, brushing against each other. All Nayeon could think about was this girl with her feline eyes and perfect body and sexy dance moves.   
The other girl leant towards Nayeon, making her heart pound, and spoke loudly into her ear, over the loud music.  
“What’s your name?”   
Nayeon realised that this girl must have gone to the private school. Someone’s mutual friend probably.   
“Nayeon,” the brunette shouted back into the other girl’s ear. She seemed to chuckle slightly, though she wasn’t sure why. “You?” she asked quickly.  
“Jennie,” the girl replied, shouting into Nayeon’s ear.   
The two girls continued to dance with each other. Nayeon let her eyes drop from Jennie’s eyes onto her chest and legs, blatantly checking her out, and then she brought her eyes back up. The other girl was smirking. They pressed their bodies closer together. They began to grind against each other. Any words of discouragement or otherwise got caught in Nayeon’s throat. The drunk girl was way too focussed on the girl in front of her.  
“You’re really hot,” Jennie shouted.   
Nayeon felt herself blush even harder than she already was.  
“I think you’re hot too,” she shouted back. The girl smirked dangerously, sexily.  
“I know. I saw you staring.”  
She brought her face closer to Nayeon’s. The brunette let her eyes drop onto the other girl’s smirking lips.   
They danced together, their foreheads touching. Their noses brushed together but their lips did not. Clearly, they were playing the ‘who will kiss first’ game.   
Jennie won.  
Their lips brushed together softly at first, then the kiss quickly began rougher, more passionate.   
This kiss was different to kissing Sana, Nayeon mused. Sana’s lips were plumper, softer. But there was no hesitation in this kiss. There was no voice niggling in the back of her mind, asking her ‘what if someone sees?’. Perhaps the alcohol had dulled that voice. This girl tasted of cigarettes and vodka. Sana always tasted of vanilla.   
The other girl swiped her tongue against Nayeon’s bottom lip. The brunette parted her lips.  
Gosh this girl knew what she was doing. And the way she pressed her hips against Nayeon’s and grabbed the back of her dress made the brunette’s mind turn to mush.  
And yet, she couldn’t help but compare the kiss to all the kisses she had shared with a certain Japanese girl. This kiss was hot, really hot. Like, it was hot. As. Fuck. But it lacked something.   
Nayeon’s alcohol addled mind found herself wishing that it was Sana who was pressed up against her. She wished it was Sana’s hips that were grinding against hers, Sana’s hands that were tangled in her hair and her dress, Sana’s lips upon hers. Maybe this was a really bad idea.   
Their lips released each other’s and Nayeon opened her eyes. She locked eyes with the other girl. Her pupils were dilated. Nayeon gasped for breath.  
“Wanna go somewhere quieter?” Jennie asked seductively.  
The brunette hesitated.   
“Thanks, but I, um, I can’t,” she found the words tumbling from her lips before she could stop herself. This girl was hot. Seriously, hot as anything. But she wasn’t who Nayeon wanted.  
Scowling, she pulled away.  
As she did, Nayeon became aware of the eyes on her. She shifted her gaze and made eye contact with a certain Japanese girl. Oh shit. The girl stormed out of the room furiously.  
The girl in her arms followed Nayeon’s gaze and noticed Sana’s retreating form.  
“Oh,” she said.   
“Sorry,” Nayeon apologised sincerely. The other girl smiled sadly.  
“Is she straight? Straight girl crush?” she asked, referring to the girl she saw leave.  
“No. Just, it’s complicated,” the brunette replied, releasing the other’s waist shyly.  
“Yeah, I get it,” she said, her feline eyes glanced to the side and Nayeon followed the gaze to wear another pretty girl was dancing, one of the three other girls that she had been dancing with previously.  
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Nayeon laughed awkwardly.  
“Yeah. At least yours likes girls. Mine doesn’t,” the other girl said. With a sad smile, she put her hand on Nayeon’s shoulder, “As much as I’d love to make out with you some more, don’t you have a girl to go after?”  
Nayeon smiled brightly.  
“Yeah, I do.”  
“Good luck,”  
Nayeon glanced over to the group of three girls that Jennie had come from. The ‘straight’ girl that Jennie had pointed out was looking over to the pair, giving Nayeon a dirty, and rather jealous, look. The senior smirked.  
“Yeah, you too.”  
With a wink, she moved away from the other girl and pushed her way through the crowd.  
She bumped into Momo, who was no longer getting off with her girlfriend. Her best friend grinned slyly.  
“You seemed to be having a good time,” she commented.  
Nayeon replied, “Oh, I was.”  
Her face turned serious again.  
“But, uh, have you seen Sana?”  
“I think I saw her go upstairs. I don’t know, I’ve been busy,” Momo waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Tzuyu suddenly appeared behind her and hugged the older girl’s waist possessively. Her eyes were half closed as she pressed her cheek against her girlfriend’s face with a soft smile.   
“Sana, um, went, um, upstairs,” the girl babbled. She pressed her nose to Momo’s cheek and muttered something in Mandarin. Nayeon glanced at the drunk Taiwanese girl then back at that girl’s girlfriend with a bamboozled expression. The nerdy girl shrugged carelessly, clearly quite drunk herself. The song changed and, screaming, Momo bulldozed her way onto the dance floor. 

Astounded, and suddenly a lot soberer than she was previously, Nayeon pushed her way to the stairs and dragged herself up them.   
One door was left partially open. She was fairly certain that that room was Tzuyu’s bedroom, but she wasn’t sure.   
Nayeon approached the door and poked her head around.  
Sat on the bed, her body facing away from the door, was a rather familiar girl. Her head was in her hands. Dark hair tumbled down her back. A pink wig lay beside her. Minatozaki Sana.   
It was funny, wasn’t it? How emotions changed so easily. There was a time when Nayeon’s heart would simultaneously race and sink whenever she saw Sana out of pure fear and disappointment. Now, her heart sank to see Sana so upset, probably because of something she’d done. And it definitely wasn’t fear that made her heart race.  
“Sana-yah?” Nayeon asked softly, entering the room and closing the door behind her.  
The Japanese girl looked up in surprise. Her cheeks were visibly wet. The crying girl looked away. Her fingers danced over her thighs nervously.  
“Get bored of that girl, did you?” she spat bitterly. The brunette gingerly perched on the bed beside the Japanese girl.  
“I’m sorry, I fucked up,” she whispered. Sana chuckled lowly.  
“I suppose it can’t be classed as cheating if you were never together in the first place,” she murmured, mostly to herself. Guilt tugged at Nayeon’s heart strings. Sana turned and looked at the brunette. Her dark eyes full of guilt and sorrow. “Tell me, was she good?” The real question, “was she better?”, was not lost, even in Nayeon’s fuzzy mind.  
“She tasted like cigarettes. I don’t like that,” she whispered. Nayeon found that the words on her mind quickly rolled off her tongue, “I wished that she was you. I wished that everyone was watching me shamelessly kiss you and not a random girl. But I know that that can’t happen so I guess I made do with what was available.”  
She felt ashamed, dirty even, to even say those words.   
Sana laughed again, her tone even darker than before.  
“You know, I was going to tell you that I couldn’t be with you. Even though our thing on stage was real, I couldn’t risk dating you and kissing you. My parents made it clear that there would be consequences if they found out about my sexuality and you,” Sana confessed darkly, “But seeing you with someone else made me so jealous. I can’t have it both ways. I can’t keep kissing you and keep my parents happy. I thought that my parents’ happiness was more important but now I realise that I was wrong. You’re worth it.”  
She rested her hand on Nayeon’s cheek, a tear trickled down her cheek.  
“Oh look,” commented Nayeon, her own cheeks wet with tears, “we’ve gone back to either kissing or crying.”  
She laughed to fill the silence. The girl beside her stared at Nayeon with such intensity that it made her squirm in her seat. The tension in the room was undeniable.  
“I want you, Nayeon,” Sana whispered. The confession lingered in the air. Nayeon stared back into her eyes.  
“We really need to talk, don’t we?” she asked the empty room. Sana nodded, her eyes focussed on Nayeon’s lips. The brunette’s heart raced once again.  
“Do we have to do it now?” Sana whispered, “All I want is to kiss you.”  
Nayeon looked up from Sana’s lips at her darkened eyes.   
Suddenly the intimacy of the situation struck her. Here they were, in a darkened room, sat on a bed. Just the two of them. At some point her hand had come to rest on Sana’s bare thigh. The Japanese girl’s hands were holding the older girl’s face tenderly.   
This was a bad idea. With emotions running high and the unsaid words lingering in the air, whatever was going to happen next would probably be a bad idea. But Nayeon didn’t care.  
“Talking can wait,” she murmured.  
And then she kissed her.   
The lingering taste of cigarettes and cheap vodka and shit tequila was consumed by the sweet taste of vanilla. 

Dahyun was starting to sober up. The party had been in full swing for a few hours now. It been at least an hour, possibly longer, since she had done her keg stand and, to tell the truth, she was still immensely proud of herself.   
The blonde was at the point, alcohol-wise, where she could either just switch to water and probably remain tipsy for the rest of the night. Or, she could drink more and get more plastered.   
She glanced at the girl beside her. Chaeyoung looked so cute tonight in her lil’ dress with her lil’ dimple and her precious lil’ face. If Dahyun wanted, she could take her lil’ face into her hands and plant a lil’ kiss to her lips. The blonde had always thought that Chaeyoung’s lips looked soft and plush. She wondered how soft they were.   
“Yo, dubu, you okay?” Jeongyeon asked, sitting down in the dining room where Dahyun was currently chatting with Chaeyoung and bunch of other sophomores. And by chatting, she meant sitting awkwardly while her pal talked to her yearmates. The blonde realised that she had been staring at Chaeyoung’s lips for the past five minutes.   
“Uh, yeah. I’m good,” Dahyun answered slowly. Jeongyeon had a shit-eating grin on her face.  
“Dude, did you see Nayeon get off with that private school girl?”  
“No?”  
“Apparently, she’s like the most popular girl there and Nayeon fucking pulled her at a party. Isn’t that crazy?” the older girl laughed.   
“What about Sana?” Dahyun asked softly, suddenly concerned. Jeongyeon shrugged.  
“Dunno, but I think I saw Nayeon disappear upstairs by herself so who knows?” the older girl shrugged once more and scratched the back of her head. An awkward silence followed. Chaeyoung was still talking to her year mates about the hot music teacher that everyone was in love with.  
“I’m gonna go get some water,” Dahyun announced as she stood up.   
Quickly, she rushed out the dining room and pushed her way through the living room.  
On her way through, she noticed Mina dancing with Jihyo, Momo and Tzuyu. Well, it was more of an awkward bop than a dance. Still, she looked beautiful. So much so that Dahyun had to stop for a moment just to look at her. She had removed the cumbersome box that was her plant pot and Momo currently had the leafy headband on top of her head. Dressed in brown slacks and a green shirt, Mina’s outfit looked simple but striking. And she looked so beautiful. But so awkward.   
Suddenly, Dahyun’s mind flashed back to the party at Jeongyeon’s house, to their conversation outside. She remembered how Mina had said that parties could get a bit much and how she didn’t like crappy house music. Crappy house music was currently pounding through the speakers. Dahyun wasn’t sure anyone actually liked crappy house music.  
One sentence ran through her mind repeatedly.  
“All I want to do at those kind of parties is put on a pair of headphones and listen to my own music.”  
She was struck with inspiration.  
Dahyun smiled to herself.   
It was time for dubu to go find herself some headphones.

Parties were fun and everything, up to a point. Past a certain point, Mina lost interest in parties. That point was were the majority of the party goers went from being a bit drunk to being plastered and, as someone who never went past tipsy, Mina often felt obligated to keep an eye on her plastered pals.  
She was dancing with Jihyo, Momo and Tzuyu. Or rather, Momo was dancing on Tzuyu while Jihyo had a whale of a time dad dancing by herself. They had all been forced to witness Nayeon getting off with a random girl earlier and that was something she couldn’t un-see.   
Although, she had finally taken off her plant pot costume and immediately felt better for it. She had been trying to take it off from the moment that had walked into the house but Dahyun and Chaeyoung wouldn’t let her. They kept on pouting up at her and hugging her and snuggling against her neck and Mina was soft, she wasn’t going to upset them by taking off a stupid costume.   
The music was shit. Really shit. It had too much base and it was banging and repetitive. Mina was praying that someone would change the playlist or at least put on something other than the shitty house music that was currently being forced into her ears.   
The music was loud. It was boring and heavy and unpleasant. Until it wasn’t.  
A soft singing voice sang into her ears, which had suddenly been covered by head phones.  
Mina whipped her head around and faced the source of the sudden music change.   
She looked up at Dahyun and felt a soft smile grace her face. She was stood on a box and held her phone in her hand. The blonde wiggled her eyebrows, making the Japanese girl chuckle.  
Gently, Mina leant forwards and wrapped her arms around Dahyun’s neck. She felt the younger girl’s arms embrace her as Dahyun stepped off her box and into Mina’s arms.   
Slowly, the pair began to slow dance, Dahyun following Mina’s lead (as she was the only one who could actually hear the music after all).  
Lights flashed around them. Mina heard muffled screams of excitement over the music coming from the headphones. Perhaps someone had finally changed the song. Not that she cared.  
Her mind was focussed on Dahyun. She felt warm in the blonde’s arms. She pressed her face into the other girl’s shoulder and inhaled her scent. It felt so right, dancing in Dahyun’s embrace. If she could, she would never let go. Not ever.   
Mina looked up from Dahyun’s shoulder and found the shorter girl staring at her. Their cheeks were almost touching. It would only take a slight tilt of the head for their lips to touch. This wasn’t the first time that they had almost kissed. Although, perhaps this time Mina would be brave.  
It was almost as if Dahyun was thinking the exact same thing. The two girls moved their heads until they were face to face, their noses lined up against each other. Mina’s eyes fluttered shut in anticipation.  
And then she felt it, a ghost of a kiss upon her lips, so soft they were barely touching. Even this slight movement made her heart jolt.  
As Dahyun began to pull away, Mina took the back of the blonde’s head into her hand, holding her in place. The Japanese girl leant forwards and connected their lips once more. The kiss was still soft and gentle and everything she had dreamed it would be, and more.  
With the soft music playing in her ear, and Dahyun finally kissing her, Mina felt more alive than ever. It almost like she and Dahyun were the only two people in the world.  
Although, if she and Dahyun were the only two people in the world, there would be another girl, a short, artsy girl, who she would miss dearly. And suddenly there was a longing in her heart.  
But for now, Mina thought as the pressure on her lips increased and the kiss began to become deeper and more passionate, she was happy with it being just her and Dahyun.

God knows how long they had been kissing for, but when Dahyun finally pulled away from Mina, she burst into laughter of disbelief. If she had found out in the hours before the party started that she would do a keg stand AND make out with Myoui Mina, one of the girls that she’s sort of in love with, in the same night, Dahyun would have laughed. And then probably cried. Yeah, she definitely would have cried.   
Mina gave her a look of confusion.  
“You’re so beautiful,” Dahyun giggled. Giddily, she hugged Mina tightly and gently kissed her cheek.  
“I’m gonna go get some water,” the older girl said, taking the headphones off her head and letting them sit round her neck. She visibly winced when she heard the crappy house music that was still playing. “Want some?” she asked.  
Dahyun nodded.  
“I could do with some air,” she said honestly, “Join me outside?”  
Mina smiled shyly. The blonde bit her lip.  
Awkwardly, the two girls parted ways and headed in opposite directions, Mina towards the kitchen and Dahyun towards Tzuyu’s porch.  
Dahyun had expected the porch to be empty, but found that there was someone else there already.  
There was a girl sat on the low wall that surrounded the porch. Her back was to Dahyun. This girl wore a white dress. Her inky black hair tumbled down her back in perfect waves. Clouds of smoke appeared in front of the girl. Dahyun stood and watched awkwardly, not wanting to disturb her.   
Worries ran through the blonde’s head. First of all, since when had Chaeyoung smoked? And why? Secondly, had the short girl seen Dahyun kiss Mina? She thought that she probably shouldn’t be so worried about that. But she worried that Chaeyoung would be upset and jealous. Was it bad that a part of her hoped that she was jealous?   
“Come and sit down, Dahyun,” Chaeyoung said, her voice sounded low and gravelly, “I can hear you thinking from all the way over there.”  
The blonde shuffled to the wall and clambered over it so that she could sit beside the short girl.  
“How did you know it was me?” Dahyun asked with a breathless chuckle. The girl beside her shrugged.  
“Just did,” she said. She took the cigarette in her hand into her mouth and sucked on it. She breathed out the smoke with a sigh. Dahyun watched in disapproval (but she had to admit that it was kind of sexy at the same time).  
“Where did you get that death stick?” Dahyun asked accusingly, “You really shouldn’t be smoking those. How long have you been smoking?”  
Chaeyoung laughed, smoke still coming out of her mouth.  
“Relax, dubu. I only ever smoke at parties. And even then, I only ever smoke at parties when I’m stressed. That’s all. I’m not gonna make a habit of it any time soon. My parents would kill me. And I bummed it off a mate,” she confessed, her tone relaxed.   
“Some mate they are,” Dahyun grumbled to herself. They fell into an awkward silence. It felt strange. Dahyun was no stranger to sitting in silence with Chaeyoung, usually when she was sketching, but their silences were never awkward like this.  
“So, what’s got you stressed?” Dahyun asked cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. The girl beside her shrugged and took another slow drag of the cigarette.   
“I saw you and Mina kiss,” Chaeyoung revealed quietly. The older girl’s heart began to race anxiously. She didn’t know how to react. She wasn’t ashamed that kissed Mina, if anything she was quite proud of herself. But she didn’t want to hurt Chaeyoung.   
“Oh?” was all Dahyun could say in response. “You’ve kissed her too.”  
Chaeyoung rolled her large eyes.  
“That was on stage. It wasn’t real,” she said bitterly. Dahyun nodded, her chest swollen with emotion.  
“But you want it to be,” the blonde phrased the question as a statement. The words hung heavily in the air. They lingered like the smoke coming from Chaeyoung’s mouth.   
The short girl didn’t answer. They both knew what the answer would be. Saying the words made it real. Dahyun found herself fighting back tears but she wasn’t sure why her tear ducts deemed it necessary to cry at this moment in time.  
“Do you think?” Chaeyoung began, pausing awkwardly.  
“I try not to,” Dahyun said cheekily. The short girl smiled for the first time during their conversation and the older girl thought that she might pass out as it was so staggeringly gorgeous and genuine.   
“Dahyun-ah! I’m being serious,” the younger girl laughed. She then coughed awkwardly before she continued. “Do you think it’s possible to have a divided heart?”  
Dahyun froze.  
“What do you mean?”  
Chaeyoung coughed once again.  
“I just mean, do you think it’s possible to have a heart that belongs to more than one person?” she asked. She looked down shamefully at her knees.   
“Yes,” Dahyun answered shortly, truthfully.   
Chaeyoung looked up at the blonde with large eyes that gleamed with hope.  
“If you’re asking if it’s possible to be in love with two people at the same time, then yes, I think it’s possible,” Dahyun nodded slowly, furrowing her eyebrows. Her heart was beating rapidly. She stared into Chaeyoung’s eyes.  
“How do you know?” the younger girl asked innocently. Her eyes dropped onto Dahyun’s lips. The blonde gulped.   
What’s the time? Confession ‘o’clock.   
“Because I have a heart that belongs to two people. I’m in love with two people,” she whispered. There was a moment of silence. She hoped that Chaeyoung would pick up on what she was trying to tell her. It seemed that the underlying confession in her overall confession was missed. Chaeyoung looked down.  
“It’s Mina, isn’t it?” she asked quietly. Dahyun nodded.  
“Yeah,”  
Chaeyoung was silent for a moment.  
“Who’s the other girl?” she asked quietly, “Do I know her? Is she a junior, like you?”  
Dahyun could hear her pulse rushing in her ears.  
“No,”  
“Is she older then? Younger? It’s not Sana, is it? Is it a teacher?” Chaeyoung continued to bombard Dahyun with questions, each one wilder than the last.  
However, the blonde had stopped properly listening after the second question. Her eyes were focussed on the short girl’s moving lips but she didn’t register what they were saying. For the second time that night, she found herself wondering how soft Chaeyoung’s lips were.   
She looked up at Chaeyoung’s eyes. They were glistening with tears. It killed Dahyun to see the girl she loved get hurt. All she wanted was to make it better. She glanced back down to the younger girl’s lips. She was still talking.  
“Dahyun? Dahyun? Are you even listening?” Chaeyoung asked, sounding exasperated.  
Dahyun decided to do something rash. She didn’t even know if Chaeyoung reciprocated her feelings, but she decided to do it anyway. It was confession ‘o’clock after all.  
Putting her hands on Chaeyoung’s cheeks, Dahyun leant forwards and captured her lips in a meaningful kiss. The short girl froze for a moment and Dahyun panicked, wondering if she had just made the biggest mistake and fucked up their friendship forever.  
But then Chaeyoung kissed her back and it was the most amazing thing ever, on a par with kissing Mina and drinking ice cold chocolate milk.  
The cigarette which was in Chaeyoung’s hands dropped onto the floor and the short girl put one hand on Dahyun’s hip and the other on her thigh.  
The two girls pulled away, still touching each other.  
“Bro,” breathed Chaeyoung.   
“Bro,” Dahyun whispered in agreement.  
The blonde found herself laughing suddenly.  
“I made you drop the death stick!” she shouted excitedly.  
Chaeyoung laughed, “Really? You kiss me and you’re happy that you made me drop my tab?”  
Dahyun suddenly turned shy and felt herself flush.  
“I kissed you,” she whispered shyly.   
Chaeyoung nodded, biting her lip. Dahyun laughed breathlessly.  
“I really like you, Chaeyoung-ah,” she confessed quietly. The younger girl rested her head on Dahyun’s shoulder with a grin.  
“I really like you too, Dahyunnie,” she replied earnestly.   
The pair sat in silence on the wall, looking out into the night sky.  
“The stars look beautiful tonight,” Chaeyoung announced suddenly. Dahyun hummed in agreement. “You know what else is beautiful?”  
Blushing lightly, the blonde smiled softly.  
“Mina?”  
There was a moments pause.  
“Yeah, Mina,”

And that was how Mina found the two girls. They were sat outside on the wall that surrounded the porch, their backs facing the door. Chaeyoung’s head was rested on Dahyun’s shoulder and the blonde had her arm wrapped around the shorter girl.  
The Japanese girl thought that she perhaps shouldn’t interrupt them but jealousy got the better of her and she found herself marching up to the couple with a large glass of water in her hands.  
“Dahyunnie? Sorry it took me so long. I could only find one glass, I think Tzuyu hid the rest of her expensive glasses. And then I couldn’t get to the sink because Jihyo and Jeongyeon were making out in front of it and I didn’t want to disturb them, or touch them in any way, so I had to climb over the counters to get to the tap and Tzuyu started shouting at me in mandarin and… yeah,” Mina finished lamely. While she had been ranting, Dahyun and Chaeyoung had swung their legs over the wall so that they were facing the Japanese girl. They listened to her with wide, love-sick eyes and soft smiles. Chaeyoung was giggling lightly. Awkwardly, Mina stuck out the glass of water which Dahyun accepted with a giggle.   
The blonde girl took a sip of the water, then offered it to the girl beside her who took a long, large gulp of it.   
Dahyun and Chaeyoung exchanged a look, and then they looked back to the Japanese girl.  
“Mina, guess what time it is,” Dahyun commanded, her lips slowly curved up into a smile.   
“I don’t know,” Mina replied, she frowned in confusion, “I guess it’s around mi-”  
Dahyun cut her off.  
“It’s confession ‘o’clock,” she declared.   
The Japanese girl frowned in confusion.  
“What does that mean?” she asked warily. Chaeyoung placed the empty glass of water on the wall beside her with a gentle smile. Dahyun grinned brightly, her eyes turned into her signature crescent moons. Oh, there was that fluttering in her stomach that Mina had got quite used to.  
“It means I like you,” Dahyun confessed flippantly.   
“Eh?” came the noise out of Mina’s mouth.   
“I like you,” the blonde repeated, as if to confirm her confession. Chaeyoung snickered beside her, staring at Mina’s blank face and wide eyes.  
“Way to break her in gently,” she muttered cheekily.   
“You like me?” Mina asked, the disbelief evident in her voice.  
“Well, I did kiss you earlier,” Dahyun said, a little condescendingly. The short girl giggled in response. She put her head back onto the older girl’s shoulder. Mina stared at them both wordlessly. There they were in front of, looking like a perfect couple. And Dahyun had just confessed to her.   
“I- I thought you two liked each other,” Mina admitted shyly, looking down at her feet.  
Chaeyoung laughed again and Mina’s heart fluttered.  
“We do like each other,” she revealed brightly.   
The cogs were turning in Mina’s mind. She looked between the two younger girls and tried to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. There seemed to be a piece missing.  
Chaeyoung reached out and held the Japanese girl’s hand. Her hand felt soft and warm wrapped around Mina’s hand. She looked at their entwined hands, then allowed her gaze to travel up to the short girl’s large, expressive eyes.   
“I like you as well, Myoui Mina,” she confessed whole-heartedly.  
And there it was, the final puzzle piece.  
“So, let me get this straight,” Mina said, Dahyun snorted loudly, “Dahyun likes me, and you also like Chaeyoung, and Chaeyoung likes me?”  
“That’s the general gist of things, yes,” confirmed the youngest, her hand still entwined with Mina’s.  
“So… You’re not going to make me choose between you or anything like that?” the Japanese girl asked warily. Dahyun blinked in confusion, she glanced down at the girl who was resting her head on her shoulder and then back up at the girl in front of her.  
“Wait, so you like us too?” she asked excitedly. Mina laughed, and was delighted by the two soft smiles she received in return.  
“Dahyunnie, I would never have kissed you if I didn’t like you,”  
The blonde girl blushed and hid behind her hair.  
“We haven’t kissed,” Chaeyoung announced suddenly, tugging on Mina’s hand. The hint was clear, but Mina decided to play a little.  
“But, Chaengie, we’ve kissed on stage,” she replied innocently.  
Chaeyoung frowned adorably. Dahyun seemed to cotton on to Mina’s little game.  
“She’s right, you know. If we’re counting kisses, you’ve kissed each other much more than you’ve kissed me,” the blonde declared. The youngest girl pouted.  
“But a stage kiss isn’t the same as a real kiss!” she protested childishly.   
Mina giggled girlishly, her heart fluttered.   
“C’mere,” she whispered as she guided Chaeyoung’s chin upwards with her free hand. She kissed the short girl gently at first, then pressed a much rougher kiss against her lips. A tiny moan from Chaeyoung filled the air.   
Still holding the youngest girl’s hand, Mina pulled away from her. She immediately grabbed the front of Dahyun’s shirt and roughly pulled her into a searing kiss. It didn’t last very long and she pulled away quickly.  
The two girls sat on the wall stared back at her with dazed expressions, darkened eyes and flushed cheeks. Mina felt a bit smug.   
“So, are we all dating now?” she asked, feeling a little anxious.  
“I hope so,” Dahyun replied laughing. Chaeyoung nodded eagerly in response.  
“It’s going to be tough,” the oldest girl commented sombrely.   
“Well, our relationship is hardly conventional,” Chaeyoung laughed, “But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”  
“It’s worth it,” confirmed Dahyun, taking hold of Mina’s free hand and placing her other hand on Chaeyoung’s thigh. The two other girls beamed at her. Mina looked down and shook her head.  
“Everything comes in pairs, you know,” she said shyly.  
“Not us,” Dahyun announced boldly, “We come as a three.”  
Mina smiled softly.  
“We do.”

The three girls stayed outside on the porch for a while longer, simply chatting about the previous things which had happened at the party (as well as general stuff), basking in their new relationship status and occasional pressing cheeky, innocent kisses onto each other’s lips when they did or said something particularly cute.  
Eventually, they decided to make their way back into Tzuyu’s house. Re-join the party. Perhaps let their pals know about the recent development in their relationship.   
Dahyun was struck by a sudden sense of déjà vu when she entered the living room, clinging to Mina’s hand.   
While they had gone, it seemed like the party had absolved into chaos.  
There was a mass of dancing bodies on the make-shift dance floor. Many couples were making out.   
On the sofa, Momo and Tzuyu were having quite a heavy make out session.   
Tzuyu had previously told Dahyun and Chaeyoung that their kisses had remained fairly innocent. Making out was rare and they never did anything more than kiss. And yet, there they were on the sofa. Tzuyu was on top of Momo and her hands had disappeared under the Japanese girl’s shirt. Hopefully she was just touching her abs, but Dahyun couldn’t be certain. When Momo undid a couple of the buttons on Tzuyu’s shirt, the blonde took that as a cue to look away from that couple.  
On the sofa beside them, Jeongyeon was curled up in Jihyo’s lap like an overgrown kitten. Both girls were fast asleep. It would have been cute, had Jihyo’s mouth not been wide open and had Jeongyeon not being drooling.   
Beside the sleeping girls sat Bae Joohyun with a bizarrely smug expression on her face. Dahyun followed her gaze to where Seulgi and Seungwan were sloppily getting off with each other in the middle of the dance floor. Hands were everywhere, they were all over each other. It was almost like they were dancing with the way they span and sort of bobbed up and down and grinded on each other in time with the music. It was a lot.   
That cashier girl from the café that Nayeon had invited for some reason (apparently she had fangirled over Nayeon when they first met so Dahyun imagined that it had something to do with that) was dancing aggressively in the middle of the room with a bunch of other private school girls and was making some strange noises.   
And then there were the boys. One pair of boys, who Dahyun could have sworn were straight, were heavily making out in one corner. Another win for the gays, she supposed. Seriously, it seemed like Tzuyu’s house was the place to confess to and/or get off with your gay crush. Other boys stood around the room seeing the multitude of female couples and watching in horny confusion.   
Notably, Sana and Nayeon were nowhere to be seen.  
Although it seemed like the girl Nayeon got off with earlier was now trying to chat up Bae Joohyun and failing (the tiny woman was too focussed on her girlfriends).  
There was a scream in the distance, probably from the kitchen.  
Beside Dahyun, Mina took one look at the mass of dancing bodies, the kissing couples and the sleeping pair on the sofa and groaned.  
She turned around, grabbed Chaeyoung and Dahyun by the arms, and then marched them back outside.  
“Nope. I am not dealing with that mess,” she announced.   
Chaeyoung and Dahyun exchanged a shell-shocked look and followed their new girlfriend outside.   
They couldn’t have agreed more.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back bitches!
> 
> So, I haven't updated in a while. I've had a very hectic few weeks and uni has started again so there isn't much time for me to be able to write. Obviously my degree comes first, so my writing has to be set aside sometimes, but I'm still trying to update.
> 
> There are only one or two more chapters left now anyway (trying to find an ending that doesn't completely suck) so there won't be too many agonisingly long gaps between updates as there aren't many updates left lol.
> 
> Once again, thanks to everyone who read, liked and/or commented on my fic. I'm really surprised at the positive response my shitty writing has received. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

Nayeon woke up feeling cold. That was the first thing that she noticed when consciousness finally arrived. Groggily, she opened her eyes, sat up and then immediately collapsed back down onto the bed having been hit with an intense wave of nausea. She always did get horrible hangovers. Absently, Nayeon turned over to face the other half of the bed. It was empty. Still lying on her side, the brunette stretched out her limbs as far as she could without falling onto her back or stomach and groaned. The other side of the bed was still warm.   
Why was it warm?  
More importantly, why was she wearing her underwear and nothing else?  
Confused, Nayeon raised her head lightly to look around the room.  
There was her dress, it was on the floor beside the bed, carelessly thrown next to some kind of school uniform. And a pink wig. Nayeon suddenly remembered throwing that bloody pink wig from its previous place on the bed when she pushed Sana’s body onto the bed, her head hit the pillow with a soft thud that resonated in the brunette’s head. Sana had complained that the wig was really expensive and wouldn’t let Nayeon mark her until she knew that the wig was okay.  
Ah, so that’s why Nayeon was in Tzuyu’s bed in nothing but her underwear.  
The memories of the previous night flooded back into the brunette’s mind and sent a shiver down her spine, both because of the memories of what happened but also because she missed the warmth of the body that had been previously beside her. She could suddenly remember everything that happened the previous night. She chuckled at the memory of Dahyun doing a keg stand and felt a twinge of regret (but also a bit of smugness) due to the memory of her kissing that private school girl on the make-shift dance floor. Her mind focussed on what had happened after that though. The emotionally fuelled conversation followed by the best kiss of Nayeon’s life. Sana was… complicated and sometimes confusing. But she meant so much to the brunette that thinking about her made emotions swell in her chest and her heart rate increase.  
They hadn’t gone as far as Nayeon would have liked. Sure, they both got undressed but they didn’t really do much beyond making out. It had been a little frustrating for Nayeon at the time, it wasn’t the first time that she and Sana had got close to losing themselves to each other but stopped for whatever reason, and she had to admit that she was starting to long for that to happen. If her dreams for last week were anything to go by, Nayeon really wanted to go further with Sana.  
Even though the pent up sexual frustration buried deep within the brunette was starting to become more and more noticeable, she had to admit that she was glad that she didn’t go ‘all the way’ with the Japanese girl the night before. Things were tender enough between them as they were, sex would have only complicated things further. Besides, they were both drunk at the time, but neither drunk enough to be completely oblivious to what they were doing. And consent is sexy guys. So, when Nayeon had admitted breathlessly that “this isn’t the best idea,”, Sana had whole-heartedly agreed, so they stopped and cuddled instead (Nayeon was quite surprised when the younger girl insisted on being the big spoon, but she wasn’t complaining).  
The bed was empty.  
Oh God, the bed was empty.  
Nayeon eased herself upwards into a sitting position and shuffled back so that her back was pressed against the headboard. She looked around the room dejectedly.   
Sana had left. Sana had left her.   
The more rational side of Nayeon’s mind told her not to panic for Sana might have just gone to shower or get some food or water. Hell, she could even be throwing up somewhere. Besides, all of Sana’s belongings were still strewn across the room.  
That didn’t stop Nayeon from panicking though. Sana must have regretted everything that happened last night. She had gone back on what she had said. She was going to ignore Nayeon for the rest of her life. Nayeon had taken things too far. Maybe Sana was upset that things didn’t go far enough and was going to take her frustration out on the older girl. Perhaps Sana’s parents had showed up and dragged her from the house without her belongings, locking her away from the evil lesbians forever.   
Nayeon felt nauseous, and not just because of her cracking hangover.   
There was a faint trickling noise which she previously failed to notice. She only noticed it now because it stopped suddenly.   
A few moments later, the door to the ensuite bathroom (because of course Tzuyu’s bedroom had an ensuite, of course it did) opened and a person stepped out.  
Nayeon’s mouth suddenly went completely dry.  
Out of the bathroom stepped Minatozaki Sana in nothing but a towel. Her wet hair clung to her back. The towel was fairly short and barely covered the tops of her thighs. She held up the towel with her hand. There was still a faint sheen to her skin, water droplets dripped down her collarbones and down her cleavage. Her chest was decorated with small, red bruises. Nayeon would have liked to add some more to the collection. Finally noticing the girl on the bed, Sana smiled bashfully, making the older girl’s heart race, and tucked a wet piece of hair behind her ear.  
“Oh, hey, you’re awake,” she greeted quietly. Nayeon stared at the Japanese girl with her mouth open. She closed it suddenly once she heard the words coming from Sana’s mouth.  
“Just about,” Nayeon replied, her voice was still deep and husky with sleep. Sana hummed in response, looking slightly flushed.  
“How are you feeling?” the younger girl asked awkwardly as she made her way towards Tzuyu’s dressing table. Nayeon watched her with wide eyes and a mind made of mush.  
“Um, h-hungover, I g-guess,” she stammered her reply when Sana took a bobble off the table and pulled her hair into a ponytail, showing off her pale neck and making more of the hickeys on her collarbone and shoulder visible.   
Awkwardly, still in nothing but a towel, Sana came and perched on the bed next to Nayeon. The older girl fought to keep the weird noises in her throat from being audible. Shyly, Sana ran her fingers across Nayeon’s collarbone, her dark eyes were focussed on the brunette’s chest. Nayeon had been so distracted by Sana’s nakedness that she had forgotten about her own. Her skin burnt where Sana’s fingers gently grazed over her.  
“I really did a number on you, huh?” she chuckled. Nayeon looked down at the hickeys that marked chest. She thought that Sana’s chest was a mess, hers was even worse.  
“Yeah,” Nayeon whispered, her voice even huskier than before.   
“Then again, I look just as bad,” the Japanese girl gestured to her own bruises.   
“You never look bad,” the older girl said sincerely, sleep deprivation was clearly getting to her. Sana blushed and looked away, her hands settled on her towel-clad lap.   
There was another pause.  
“Thank you for not marking my neck,” she said quietly, “I don’t think my parents would ever let me outside again if I came home visibly covered in hickeys.”  
“That’s why I didn’t touch your neck,” Nayeon admitted.   
Another awkward silence filled the room.  
“So, where do we go from here?” Nayeon asked.  
“Is now the best time to do ‘defining the relationship’ talks?” Sana replied with a question, she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. Nayeon’s eyes followed her hand and then followed the arm back down to the top of the towel. It had slipped down a little, revealing more cleavage. Too flustered to reply, Nayeon simply shrugged. The Japanese girl sighed.  
“I think we’re past the ‘just friends’ stage. I don’t think we can ever go back to being just friends,” Sana admitted suddenly. The older girl jumped slightly, she tore her gaze off Sana’s chest and focussed on the girl’s eyes instead.   
“Were we ever just friends?” Nayeon asked, Sana bit her lip. “Even before everything happened, were we ever just friends?”  
Ashamed, Sana looked back down to her lap.  
“I am sorry, you know,” she said quietly.  
“I know,” Nayeon replied sincerely. When Sana looked back into the older girl’s eyes, there was so much hope in them that the older girl felt any remaining anger or resentment that was still inside of her melt away.   
Suddenly, Sana laughed.  
“I kissed you on stage,” she exclaimed. Unconsciously, Nayeon grinned. “I kissed you, Im Nayeon, a girl, on stage!”  
“You never told me why,” Nayeon asked shyly. Blushing, Sana put her hand on the older girl’s knee.  
“You looked so beautiful and the music was so powerful. I got caught up in the character. I was that soldier who was falling in love with a poor Vietnamese girl. And then I saw you in the spotlight and you were so close. And then the music hit it’s crescendo and you were in arms. And then, suddenly, it was just you and me. It wasn’t a soldier in love with a girl, it was me in love with you and you looked so beautiful, I just had to kiss you,” Sana spoke quickly and quietly as if she was telling Nayeon the most important secret she would hear.  
One part of the speech stuck with Nayeon. Her nausea worsened and her heart rate became even quicker than before.  
“You’re in love with me?” she squeaked. Sana smiled awkwardly, realising what she had just confessed.  
“I know it doesn’t always seem like it. I know that sometimes I don’t know what I want and sometimes I treat you unfairly because I’m insecure and afraid and too wary of my reputation. I know that would be so much easier if I didn’t, but yes. Im Nayeon, I’m in love with you. I fell in love with you when I was fourteen and I’ve only fallen deeper since,” Sana admitted wholeheartedly.   
A tear dripped down Nayeon’s cheek.   
“I love you, too,” she whispered, only just loud enough for Sana to hear. A bright smile graced the Japanese girl’s face and she took Nayeon’s cheek into her hand. She wiped away the tear with her thumb and then leant forwards to capture the brunette’s lips in a gentle kiss. Nayeon grinned against the other girl’s lips and let her pull away.  
The older girl’s eyes dropped back down to the top of Sana’s towel, where it had dropped even further down to reveal more hickey covered skin. The towel was dangerously close to falling off and revealing Sana’s naked body. Nayeon’s mind turned to mush just thinking about it. She began to laugh.  
“You know, that would have been a whole lot more romantic if we weren’t both sat on Tzuyu’s bed almost naked with terrible hangovers,” she chuckled. The Japanese girl giggled adorably. Her eyes raked up and down Nayeon’s almost bare body and she bit her lip. Her eyes darkened. Nayeon gulped.  
“Do you know what is supposed to be good for hangovers?” she asked innocently.  
“No? What is good for-” Nayeon was cut off by Sana’s lips crashing into hers.   
The Japanese girl had crawled onto the bed. Her hands were currently cradling the brunette’s face. Confused and aroused, Nayeon let her hands settle on Sana’s towel-clad hips and she kissed the younger girl back just as passionately. The Japanese girl pulled away ever so slightly, her forehead rested against Nayeon’s, allowing the brunette to let out a little “oh” as she finally realised what Sana was implying. Somehow Nayeon doubted that Tzuyu would be very happy if she knew what was happening in her bed, but at that moment she didn’t really care what Tzuyu would think.  
Sana’s hands settled onto Nayeon’s shoulders. The older girl felt her palms push into her shoulders and she was forced to lean back against the headboard as Sana straddled her waist. Of course, Sana had no underwear on. Nayeon could feel the heat and wetness pooling onto her abs. She squeezed Sana’s thighs with her hands.   
Their lips didn’t lose contact with each other, not even when Sana’s hips began to rock against Nayeon’s stomach.   
Suddenly, the brunette pulled out of the searing kiss and looked up at Sana’s dark face.  
“Sana,” she breathed out, her voice was low and husky.   
The Japanese girl’s cheeks were flushed, her towel had opened slightly to reveal more of her than Nayeon had ever seen before. Her eyes were dark and hooded and her lips were parted. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. Sana’s hips ceased to move, which was quite disappointing.  
“Sana,” Nayeon repeated.   
“Yeah?” the younger girl breathed out, her voice was so low.  
“I need to vom,”

A gentle snore woke up Chaeyoung. She kept her eyes closed, trying to go back to sleep but failed. She kind of needed to wee.  
She felt warmer than she should have done considering that the duvet on top of her was very thing, it was more of a blanket than a duvet.   
Another light snore came from beside her.  
A wave of realisation hit her, she was sleeping next to someone.  
In fact, she was sandwiched next to two people.   
Both were cuddled up to her. Chaeyoung opened her eyes to see that Dahyun, the one who was snoring quietly, had her head tucked into Chaeyoung’s shoulder and one of her arms was thrown across Chaeyoung’s waist. Her other arm was tucked under the short girl’s back, holding her in a tight embrace. Chaeyoung could feel that her head was resting on the crook of Mina’s neck (at least she assumed that it was Mina), who also had her arm and leg thrown over Chaeyoung’s body.  
Somehow, they were all on a single bed. Mina’s back was pressed against the wall beside the bed (again).   
Smiling softly to herself, the arty girl pressed a gently kiss to the top of Dahyun’s head and tried to wiggle out of the bed without waking up the other girls (she did need the loo after all), but she gave up when Dahyun pressed herself closer to the short girl and gently kissed Chaeyoung’s neck, mumbling something about melons. Chaeyoung involuntarily let out a small whine when she felt the blonde’s soft lips against her sensitive neck.   
The girl behind her giggled quietly and moved her arm to entwine her hand with Chaeyoung’s.  
“Are you awake, Chaengie?” Mina whispered sleepily. The short girl turned her head and looked up into Mina’s kind eyes. Sweetly, she nodded gently and puckered her lips wordlessly. Smiling, the older girl gave her a gentle peck and settled back against the wall.  
It seemed that the movement might have woken Dahyun up.   
“Where’s my kiss?” she asked demandingly, raising her body so that she was looking over both Mina and Chaeyoung. The youngest of the three watched her girlfriends kiss sweetly over her and grinned.   
Dahyun pulled away, laughing, and collapsed back down next to Chaeyoung.   
“You know, I think there’s a running theme with my drunk dreams,” she announced groggily. “I dreamt about melons.”  
Chaeyoung chuckled, “Were they glorious?”  
“Of course they were, Chaeyoung-ah!” the blonde exclaimed, “All melons are glorious.”  
Her girlfriends laughed.  
Chaeyoung didn’t know what she did to deserve to have such wonderful girlfriends. 

Having clambered out of bed, once Chaeyoung ran to the bathroom, the three girls bounded downstairs into the living room.  
The room was an absolute state. There were empty cups all over the place, an empty keg was on the otherwise empty sofa.   
The second sofa was occupied by Jeongyeon and Jihyo. They were pretty much in the same position as they were the previous night, with Jeongyeon curled up on Jihyo’s lap. No one had had the heart to wake them up. Well, Tzuyu probably would have done but she had been a bit busy the previous night getting busy. Instead, Mina had just readjusted them so that Jihyo was actually lying down on the couch and then they had chucked a blanket on top of them so that they didn’t freeze. Chaeyoung chuckled to herself, she was such a good friend.   
On the floor was a tidy row of five sleeping bags.   
Dahyun pointed to one of the girls.  
“Who’s that?” she asked.  
“Kim Yerim,” Chaeyoung replied, “She’s in my year. She’s in my art class. I think she kind of has a bit of a crush on me.”  
“Not her,” Dahyun chuckled, as Mina rolled her eyes with a soft smile, “Her!”  
“Oh, the one between Yerim and Bae Joohyun? No fucking clue,” Chaeyoung shrugged.  
“I think she’s Seungwan’s friend? Goes to the private school. I think she called herself Joy?” Mina interrupted.   
“Huh,” Dahyun replied, “Never seen her before in my life.”  
The blonde paused for a moment then smirked to herself, “She’s hot,” she announced. Chaeyoung snorted loudly and slapped her blonde girlfriend gently on the arm. Mina rolled her eyes.  
“She’s also sleeping,”  
The three climbed over the five sleeping girls on the floor and sat themselves down on the unoccupied couch.  
Soon the five girls on the floor woke up (or were woken up by their friends) and split up, some of them opting to go to the bathroom while a couple stayed in the living room, lurking in the hope of being fed.   
The three girls on the couch talked quietly amongst themselves, careful not to wake up Jeongyeon and Jihyo who were somehow still sleeping.   
Sana made a brief appearance. She appeared at the bottom of the stairs wearing an oversized t-shirt which probably belonged to Tzuyu (they all knew that she slept in Tzuyu’s room with Nayeon lol). Her hair was wet and tied back into a ponytail. The Japanese girl disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared a minute or so later with a large glass of water. She waved cheerily to the girls in the living room and then disappeared back up the stairs.   
Chaeyoung watched her go with a puzzled expression.  
“I have many questions,” she announced, “And I’m not sure I want to know the answer to most of them.”  
Dahyun, who was sat on the other side of Mina, hummed in agreement.  
“Firstly, I want to know if that was a hickey peeking out of the collar of her shirt,” the blonde said warily.   
“It probably is,” the oldest of the three said nonchalantly, “It wouldn’t be the first time that Nayeon had given her a hickey.”  
“Bet it wasn’t as impressive as the one you gave me,” Dahyun nudged the Japanese girl teasingly. As always, it warmed Chaeyoung’s heart to see Mina blush.   
It wasn’t much longer before Sana returned. This time she had Nayeon trailing behind her and she was wearing a pair of sweatpants that were too long for her. Chaeyoung assumed that the sweatpants also belonged to Tzuyu. Nayeon looked very pale and a little disorientated. Her glasses were on wonky and her hair had gone frizzy, sticking out in all directions. It was like a throwback to Nayeon’s old nerdy appearance. The oldest girl was wearing a hoodie and a pair of jeans. As the clothes fit, it was fair to assume that they were her own clothes that she had brought with her.  
Beside her, Chaeyoung saw Mina narrow her eyes at the brunette. Once she caught her eye, the younger girl tilted her head in confusion, silently asking for the reason why Mina looked so suspicious.  
“I’m pretty sure that’s Sana’s hoodie,” she whispered to the short girl conspiratorially.  
Nayeon held a glass in her hand which she quickly returned to the kitchen.   
That explained why Sana disappeared upstairs with a glass of water.   
The brunette returned to the living room with a plate of toast.  
“Are you seriously eating Tzuyu’s food?” Sana asked accusingly with a haughty laugh. Nayeon shrugged.  
“I’m not the one wearing her clothes,” she retorted. Wordlessly, she offered a piece to the Japanese girl beside her. Chaeyoung watched in horror as Sana leant forwards and took a bite out of Nayeon’s toast. She was subjected to being forced to watch Nayeon feed Sana toast for a few more minutes before the oldest girl gave her plate to the other girl in favour of taking pictures of Jeongyeon and Jihyo. Of course, Dahyun joined in and posed in the background. The blonde girl and Nayeon started to take selfies together with the sleeping couple in the background until Sana tried to join in and ended up tripping up over her own feet and falling into Jihyo’s chest. The school council president awoke with a start and pushed the offending body away from her. Sana fell backwards, pulling Dahyun and Nayeon down with her. Dahyun somehow ended up on the bottom of the pile.  
“Help! I’m being attacked by lesbians!” she shouted as she tried to push the two girls on top of her off her slight frame. Meanwhile, Jeongyeon woke up and complained loudly about her back hurting, received no sympathy from her sleepy girlfriend who was still confused by her sudden wake up call, and then finally noticed the pile of girls on the floor. The two remaining private school girls, Joy and Seungwan, watched the scene in horror. Jeongyeon, laughing loudly, took out her phone to take pictures of Dahyun, who flailing around and screaming while Sana and Nayeon began to snuggle up to her and even press kisses into her hair.   
Mina turned to Chaeyoung with a loud sigh.  
“Our girlfriend is an idiot,” she deadpanned. Chaeyoung giggled. She entwined her fingers with Mina’s.  
“Yeah, but she’s our idiot,”

Soon, Tzuyu stomped down the stairs looking rather pissed off.   
“What the fuck is going on?” she asked with her hands on her hips. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt with baggy sweatpants and her hair was wrapped in a towel turban. “You woke up Momo.”  
Chaeyoung looked at her tall friend and burst into giggles. She couldn’t take the younger girl seriously, especially when she was wearing a scarf indoors in a poor attempt to disguise her neck.   
Sana and Nayeon, who were still on the floor snuggling up to and tickling Dahyun, who had accepted her fate and was lying still, looked up at the girl and nervously shrank away. Nayeon sat beside Jeongyeon on the sofa looking like a guilty puppy while Sana perched on the arm of the sofa.   
Momo suddenly appeared from behind Tzuyu with a shy smile. Her hair was down and ruffled and her glasses were slightly wonky. She wore a low-cut vest and a pair of sweatpants. Chaeyoung had a sneaky suspicion that they might have been Momo’s pajamas. The Japanese girl cutely yawned and rubbed sleep out of her eyes before she wrapped her arms around her tall girlfriend and rested her head against her chest, closing her eyes sleepily. Tzuyu smiled softly and stroked her hair.  
“Oh my god, Momo,” Jeongyeon suddenly laughed, “You look like a walking hickey.”  
The Japanese girl looked down at her friend, completely startled, and Tzuyu turned an interesting shade of red.  
Momo was completely covered in red bruises. They started at the top of her neck and continued to decorate her all the way down to the top of her vest top, and probably below. She even had a few on her shoulders and arms.   
“Your neck is an absolute mess,” Nayeon deadpanned with a sharp laugh.  
Momo giggled.  
“You think that’s bad, you should see my thighs,” she declared, “Look!”  
And then she began to pull down her sweatpants.   
“No!” shouted Jihyo, “We don’t need to see that, thank you!”  
Chaeyoung watched in amazement as Momo shrugged and pulled her sweatpants back up onto her hips. They might not have seen the hickeys on her thighs, but they did get to see the small ones on her stomach. That was definitely something that the short girl was not ready to see.  
Nayeon began to laugh loudly.  
“Oh shit, Momo! I can’t believe you of all people lost your virginity before me!” she guffawed. The Japanese girl in question smirked, but her red cheeks betrayed her.  
“Yeah, well, they don’t call me dancing mochine Momo the homo for nothing,” she announced and posed cutely. Tzuyu rolled her eyes fondly while the other girls laughed.  
“No one calls you that,” Jeongyeon sneered teasingly.   
Momo looked very offended and pouted.  
“Unnie’s right, Moguri, nobody calls you that,” Mina piped up.  
“Ah! Mina-chan! You wound my heart!” the older girl put her hand on the heart and dramatically fell onto her girlfriend, who caught her effortlessly.  
Momo looked up into Tzuyu’s eyes pleadingly. The Taiwanese girl smiled awkwardly.  
“I love you,” she said firmly. Momo blinked.  
“I love you too? What’s that got to do with my nickname?” she whined.  
Chaeyoung giggled to herself. She had to admit that Momo and Tzuyu were adorable, one of the sweetest, softest couples in their group. Obviously, she thought that her relationships were much cuter.  
Tzuyu ignored her girlfriend and began to walk to the kitchen. Her girlfriend rubbed at her face sleepily.   
“Food?” she asked when she got to the kitchen door, clearly directing her question at Momo. The Japanese girl made a circle with her hand.  
“Have you got any…? You know?”  
Tzuyu glanced down at the hand circle and smiled softly.  
“I think I have some leftover Jokbal,” she declared. Momo’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.  
“Should you really be eating that in the morning?” Nayeon piped up condescendingly. Tzuyu shot the oldest girl a dirty look.  
“Time is an illusion, unnie,” she deadpanned and then stalked off into the kitchen, she was closely followed by Momo who was chanting “Jokbal!” loudly.   
One of the girls who saw sat in front of the sofa that Chaeyoung and her girlfriends were sat on looked around the room in complete bewilderment.   
“What the fuck is happening?” the girl, Chaeyoung was sure that she was called Joy, asked quietly.   
Mina leant over and awkwardly patted her shoulder.  
“It’s okay, you get used to it eventually.”

While most of the people in the Chou’s household were getting showered and changed, Sana lurked in the kitchen and helped Tzuyu make breakfast for those who wanted it. And by help, what she really did was stand and watch supportively because the Taiwanese girl wouldn’t let her touch anything in case she broke it. Momo was sat on the kitchen counter happily eating leftover jokbal that Tzuyu had reheated for her.  
“Sana-unnie?” Tzuyu eventually asked hesitantly, “Why are you wearing my clothes?”  
Sana looked down at the oversized clothes that hung off her body and tugged on the hem of the shirt.  
“Well, Nayeon forgot to bring clothes to change into, and she didn’t want to have to wear her devil costume or her school uniform because she said that she’d look like she was doing a walk of shame,” she explained quickly. Tzuyu and Momo both stopped what they were doing, Momo with her fork full of food dangling in mid-air, and stared at the other Japanese girl. Sana looked between the other two girls for a moment and then let out a loud ‘oh’ of realisation. “I gave her my clothes and borrowed Tzuyu’s. We thought you’d be more okay with me wearing your clothes than Nayeon wearing your clothes.”  
Tzuyu scowled.  
“Why? I love all my unnies. Nayeon-unnie could have worn my clothes had you guys just asked,” she said innocently. Sana flushed red and wrapped the bottom of the t-shirt around her fingers. Momo returned to eating.  
“We didn’t want to disturb you and Momo,” she said shyly, “and we were kind of worried that you’d be mad at us.”  
“Firstly, how did you know that Momo and I would be together?” Tzuyu laughed. Sana shrugged with a smirk.  
“Nayeon said that you’re all Momo talks about nowadays. She guessed that you two would be off being adorable somewhere. We had no idea that you two were getting busy.”   
It was the youngest girl’s turn to blush. Momo took no notice and continued to eat her jokbal.  
“S-secondly,” Tzuyu stammered, struggling to regain her composure, “why would I be mad at you two?” Her face turned deadly serious, “You didn’t have sex in my bed, did you?”  
Sana laughed awkwardly and tugged on the collar of the t-shirt, revealing her hickeys to the couple in the kitchen. Tzuyu gasped loudly.  
“Oh my god, you had sex with Nayeon-unnie in my bed, didn’t you?” she exclaimed. Tzuyu sighed angrily and pressed her hand to her forehead, muttering something under her breath in mandarin. Momo turned her attention away from her food and directed her stare at her fellow Japanese girl. She pushed her glasses up her nose.   
“No!” Sana shouted, her face had turned red, “No! We didn’t, I promise! We just had a chat and then made out a bit, that’s all.”  
Tzuyu clenched her jaw and Sana winced, preparing for the worst.  
“You two had a chat?” Momo asked suddenly, “Did you sort things out between you? We all noticed how you were avoiding her all night and we all saw her get off with that randomer.”  
Sana gritted her teeth, the memory of that kiss was enough to send her reeling. The thought of Nayeon touching someone else, her hands touching another girl’s body, her lips caressing someone else’s, made her blood boil. It always had done. Before, Sana had put that down to hatred, and possibly even a bit of homophobia. Now, she realised that that feeling had been jealousy all along.   
“Kind of,” Sana admitted, “We agreed that we can’t ever be platonic and that I can’t give her up but never really got past that.”  
“You love her, don’t you?” Tzuyu asked wisely. Sana bit her lip, and then nodded.  
“I do. I’m completely in love with her. And, despite everything, I want nothing more than to be with her,” she admitted quietly. Momo and Tzuyu exchanged a look as Sana’s eyes began to water and she sniffled quietly.   
“But I can’t be with her because of my parents but I love her too much to let go,” Sana began to bawl. Momo stared at her Japanese friend in bewilderment while Tzuyu put down the butter knife in her hand and embraced the older girl in a tight, comforting hug. Once Momo got over the shock of the sudden outburst, she slid off the counter and hugged Sana from behind, whispering encouragement in Japanese into her ear.  
After a while, Sana wiggled out of the hug and sniffled loudly.   
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed and then pointed to a wet patch on the top Tzuyu was wearing, “I got your shirt all wet.”  
“Here, have some jokbal to cheer you up,” Momo offered cheerfully, feeding the other girl a piece of her precious food. Sana giggled girlishly and accepted the tasty morsel.   
“So, what are you going to do?” Tzuyu asked softly, rubbing Sana’s shoulder gently. Sana sniffed.  
“I don’t know,” she shrugged sadly.  
“Perhaps talking to her would be a good start,” the youngest girl suggested wisely.  
Sana nodded.   
“Yeah, perhaps,” the Japanese girl grinned brightly and tightly wrapped her arms around the tall girl’s waist, “You’re the best, Tzuyu-yah!”  
“I can’t breathe,” Tzuyu announced. She looked at her girlfriend pleadingly. Momo blatantly ignored her.

Nayeon grabbed her bag of clothes and made her way downstairs. She waved goodbye to the people who were left behind, at the point only Tzuyu and Momo were left in the house, and walked outside. She checked her phone and texted her parents to let them know she was on her way back. Thankfully, Tzuyu lived fairly close to Nayeon, so she could walk home with no problem. As she reached the end of the driveway, she bumped into Sana.  
They greeted each other awkwardly and shyly like middle school kids with a crush.   
“Why are you out here?” Nayeon asked. Sana grimaced.  
“My parents said they were nearly here ten minutes ago. I didn’t want to go back in case they arrive when I'm inside and then get mad at me for not being ready,” she explained. Nayeon nodded in understanding. Those were some shitty parents right there.  
“I’m walking, so I’ll keep you company for a bit?” Nayeon asked, feeling a little weird. Sana sniffled a little.  
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” she said quietly, “I’d offer you a lift but…”  
“It’s okay, I get it,” Nayeon returned Sana’s sad smile.   
There was an awkward pause as Nayeon tried to find the right words to say to the girl she loved who was stood right in front of her.   
Sana suddenly turned to the older girl with a look of determination upon her pretty face.  
“Nayeon,” she declared, “I’m going to do it.”  
“Do what?” the brunette asked slowly, very suspicious of the girl beside her.  
“I’m going to come out,”  
Nayeon failed to suppress a loud gasp of surprise.  
“You what?” she exclaimed loudly, “But your parents?”  
Sana nodded firmly.  
“I’m sick and tired of hiding who I am. I’m always so afraid of doing anything that might suggest to my parents that I’m not the ideal child, that I’m dirty and perverted or whatever shit thing they might think about me. I’ve done shit things to preserve my reputation for their sake. But it doesn’t matter anymore,” she ranted. Nayeon remained silent throughout her speech and blinked rapidly.  
“It doesn’t?” she asked dumbly. Sana beamed.  
“Well, it does. But I’ve found something more important,” she declared.  
“You have?”  
“I’ve found theatre club. I’ve found real friends who are more like family than my actual parents will ever be. And I’ve found you,” Sana said softly and caressed Nayeon’s cheek with her hand. Nayeon leant into the touch instinctively. “I want to be with you, Nayeon. But it’s not fair to ask you to keep our relationship a secret.”  
“I’d do it for you,” Nayeon blurted, surprising herself.   
“And force you to go back into the closet with me? I forced you out, it’s not fair for me to push you back in,” Sana shook her head sadly. She looked into Nayeon’s soft brown eyes and smiled.  
“Nayeon, once this is over, can we start again? Will you go out with me?” the Japanese girl asked sincerely. Shocked by Sana’s sudden change of heart, Nayeon breathlessly replied,   
“Of course, I will.”  
A car pulled up in the driveway and Sana jumped away instinctively. She looked down at her feet guiltily and then rubbed the back of her neck.  
“Sorry,” she apologised, “That will be the last time I’ll jump away from you like that.”  
“Okay,” Nayeon replied breathlessly, still completely confused by what just happened. She had never been slow like this before, but after everything that had happened, her brain needed significant time to catch up.  
“I love you,” Sana whispered before she ran off and jumped into the car. Nayeon caught Mr Minatozaki staring at her disapprovingly in the side-view mirror. Mrs Minatozaki seemed to already be berating her daughter. The car drove off at an alarming speed.   
“I love you too,” Nayeon said to the empty driveway.


	25. The finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alas, it is the final chapter.
> 
> We jump ahead to several months in the future (probs about six months on from the show). 
> 
> Having started this fic as a SaNayeon fic, I decided to stay true to my roots and have the ending focus on SaNayeon since they were the main pairing from the beginning. 
> 
> There is many a nod to the first chapter to make the character growth more obvious. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the final chapter of Societies and Secrets. And, as always, don't be afraid to leave a comment, if you so wish.

Nayeon made her way down the school corridor, her best friend Momo close behind. As she approached her locker, she heard giggles beside her. She didn’t walk a little quicker, she knew those giggles weren’t directed at her, but Nayeon quickly reached her locker, put in the combination and opened it up.   
She glanced away from the inside of her locker to stare at the three giggling girls. The three, very pretty, giggling girls. A soft smile formed on her lips.

There was Mina, the ballet dancer, captain of the school’s dance team, also the student council treasurer. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and chuckled quietly. Mina was much quieter, shyer than the other two girls. She used to have a reputation for being a heartbreaker. So many boys had tried to date her but she would just string them along until she got bored and then drop them. At least that’s how it looked from the outside. Nayeon now knew the truth about Mina.   
Jihyo was the student council president, the first junior to be awarded the role. And now she was the first person in the school to possible hold the same position on the school council for two years running. The school had made it very clear that she was going to win her upcoming election. It was difficult to dislike Jihyo. Even those who wanted to run against her or were jealous of her (or her girlfriend) couldn’t help but fall for her genuine kindness and selflessness.  
Finally there was Sana, pretty Sana, captain of the girls’ basketball team. Part of Mina’s dance team, student council secretary, previously the most popular girl in school. When she finally let the rumour spread that she was gay, and then confirmed it in front of the whole school, her popularity dipped. Of course, it did. Their school was relatively progressive, but the stigma surrounding gay people still existed. And people in her year hadn’t forgotten when she did to Im Nayeon. Sana was still popular, she just wasn’t queen bee anymore. And she didn’t care.  
The three most popular girls in school.   
As far as cliques go, they weren’t that bad. There was a time when Nayeon couldn’t help but hate them. Well, she had hated Sana, no surprise after what she did to Nayeon. Although the other girls weren’t even at that school at the time, Nayeon had hated them by default.  
It was funny how things changed over time.  
As she watched Sana laugh and smile, she felt her heart flutter. All that time ago, over half a year ago, despite hating her guts, part of her just wanted Sana to notice her. Now she knew that Sana had always noticed her, just chose to ignore her in order to ignore the part of herself that she didn’t like at the time.   
Sana made eye contact with Nayeon and a bright smile spread over her face. Having been officially dating for three months now (they made it official in January), Nayeon was still surprised by the effect the Japanese girl had on her. Her heart pounded in her chest and her cheeks became lightly dusted with red.   
“Wow Nayeon, you’re so gay,” Momo announced a little bit too loudly.   
Nayeon, a known gay, closed her locker and looked over at her best friend.  
Momo smiled in that dumb, clueless way. Her best friend was suddenly engulfed in a hug from behind. Her stupidly tall (and stupidly beautiful) girlfriend, Chou Tzuyu, pressed a kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek then softly rested her head on Momo’s shoulder. The Japanese girl turned a lovely shade of pink and rested her hands on top of Tzuyu’s.  
“Like you can talk!” Nayeon laughed, gesturing to the adorable couple.   
Momo hid behind her thick glasses and smiled shyly.   
The Japanese girl opened her mouth up to reply, but was cut off.

A loud voice cut through the air.  
“Im Nayeon. Report to the principal’s office.”  
Shocked and confused, Nayeon began to scuttle off.  
A hand wrapped around her wrist and she was pulled into the conversation between the three popular girls.   
Sana had pulled her towards her with too much force and suddenly Nayeon found herself face to face with the Japanese girl, their noses almost touching.  
“Hey,” the younger one whispered.  
“Hey back,” Nayeon giggled and let her girlfriend kiss her gently. She was always surprised how quickly her heart raced after receiving Sana’s kisses, although she should probably be used to it by now, she mused to herself. The brunette pulled away with a shy giggle.  
“Now that that’s over with,” Jihyo remarked, “Any idea what the principal wants you for?”  
“Are you in trouble?” Mina asked, her voice tinged with worry.   
Nayeon, who had never done anything wrong in her life, considered the idea for a few moments, then shook her head in denial.  
“I wonder if you’ve won a prize or something,” pondered the school council president.  
“Gayest gay?” Sana suggested cheekily. Nayeon stuck her tongue out at the Japanese girl and then shook her head with a fond smile.   
“That’s you, Sana-yah,”  
“Imagine if I came home with that award! My parents would throw me out for real this time,” she laughed. The rest of the girls awkwardly laughed alongside her.  
“I should go see what the Kim-meister wants,” the oldest girl nodded in the direction of the principal’s office. The three popular girls nodded in agreement.  
“Let us know what happens,” Jihyo commanded. The brunette nodded her head.  
“Lgbt soc tonight?”   
“Always,” Mina smiled softly. Nayeon turned her attention onto Sana and pleaded at her with wide, dark eyes.  
“I have work tonight,” she explained casually then pouted. Nayeon kissed the pout off her lips.  
“Okay, baby. I’ll see you there,”  
And with that, she scuttled off down the corridor.   
The sound of Sana’s giggle rang in her ears, even after she reached the principal’s office. It was a sound she could never tire of. 

The principal, Principal Kim, was a middle-aged woman with a kind face and a soft voice.  
She had laughed kind-heartedly at Nayeon’s panicked expression when the brunette shuffled into her office and urged her to calm down.  
Nayeon got a sudden sense of déjà vu. She remembered the first time Principal Kim had called her into office. She had sat in her chair with an impeccably straight back and listened to the Principal’s request for her to start an lgbt society with growing panic coursing through her veins.  
Now, here she was, sat straight backed in the comfortable chair, trying to mask the panic in her face, as the Principal began to talk casually to the girl.   
Nayeon was surprised.  
The Principal set off ranting about how fantastic the lgbt society was doing, how their charity events had raised a fair amount of money and how their collaborations with the pta had raised awareness with parents about lgbt rights and acceptance.  
Nayeon was very surprised.  
And then she went on to talk about the showcase in first term.  
“I have to admit, we were quite sceptical about your collaboration with the theatre club so early in the school year. We had expected you to first do some small events in school before doing something so grand as to have explicitly homosexual relationships within the theatre piece. But our school council president, your friend, I believe, managed to convince me that there was no need to have a word with you about it,” the principal continued on her rant.  
Nayeon grimaced and nodded along. She hadn’t known that the school had been wary of the showcase, or that Jihyo had put in a good word for her.  
“Then, of course, we saw the show and were pleasantly surprised. We wished to talk to you after the show but I got caught up in other businesses. I must say, that that showcase was wonderful. We laughed, we cried, we felt every emotion possible. My wife was a wreck after your duet with Miss Minatozaki, your onstage kiss was so emotional that she burst into tears the moment she saw it,” the principal laughed.  
“Y-your wife?” Nayeon stammered. Principal Kim was not deterred from continuing her speech.   
“It seemed like your showcase changed quite a few perspectives amongst the students, in the best way possible. I was most surprised at the student body’s reaction when Miss Minatozaki was, um, forced to come out, for lack of better words, especially having read the reports about the incident involving you, Miss Im. Of course, this is all quite unprofessional of me, I just wanted to let you know how glad I am that the lgbt society has been a success, so far,” she finished off her rant. Her face took on a more serious expression. “It’s quite unorthodox for me to ask, but I feel I must, how are you finding the process of electing a new committee? I haven’t seen any reports off you or the school council which include the candidates for your new committee and I was slightly concerned. Especially since you and Miss Hirai are to graduate this year.”  
Nayeon blushed and fiddled with her school skirt.  
“Sorry, Principal Kim,” she answered nervously, “We’ve been busy with our campaigns. But we’re just about to open applications.”  
The principal grinned.  
“Lovely. Don’t forget, you require a president, a vice president, a treasurer and a secretary at the very least for the club to remain official,” she reminded the brunette sternly.  
“Of course,”  
“Lovely to speak with you, Miss Im. Keep up your good work for the rest of term,”  
“Yes, Principal Kim.”  
Nayeon spluttered out a final thank you and bowed politely. She left the office feeling completely bewildered. 

As soon as Nayeon scuttled into her first class, she sat down and began to unravel what just happened inside her head.  
Jeongyeon leant over her desk and sharply poked the absent brunette with her pencil.  
“Is you okay?” she whispered, “You look a bit shaken. Shooketh if you will”  
“I am shooketh,” Nayeon nodded. She turned sharply to face her friend. “Did you know that Principal Kim is married?”  
“She does have a ring on her finger,” Jeongyeon said sarcastically.  
“To a woman!” Nayeon finished dramatically. The younger girl’s face was a picture.  
“Wow. Shooketh,” she announced. 

Nayeon sat at the small table in the café with her books spread out in front of her. But her attention wasn’t on her studies, it was on the girl working behind the counter, making coffees for people with a broad smile on her face.   
It was quite busy in the café, much busier than it had been when Nayeon first visited with Sana. The décor hadn’t changed. She was currently sat underneath a stonewall poster. She appreciated that.  
Sana herself was busy working her butt off. She had been since she came out to her parents.   
Nayeon remembered that day like it was yesterday.  
She had received a call from Jihyo, who she swore had never sounded so flustered before, and was asked to come around to her house. When she arrived at the Park residence, she found Sana curled up on the sofa, bawling her eyes out and muttering in Japanese. A bruise had formed on her left cheek.   
“She won’t speak Korean,” Jihyo had informed Nayeon as she draped a blanket around the crying girl on her sofa, “I thought you might be able to help calm her down.”   
“I don’t speak Japanese,” Nayeon had replied sleepily, after all, it was nearly midnight when she had received the call from Jihyo. Apprehensively, the brunette had settled beside the crying girl and awkwardly pulled her into an embrace, which Sana had leapt into, sobbing aggressively onto Nayeon’s shoulder. She cried in Japanese into her hears. Nayeon murmured the only Japanese phrases she knew into Sana’s ear and rubbed her back.  
Thinking back on it, there was a good chance that she told Sana “smells nice, cheers” several times, but her girlfriend had told her at a later date that she appreciated how she tried.   
She had fallen asleep on that couch, with Sana in her arms, and woke up in the same position.   
Sana had got that job at the café as soon as finished school the next day. The pink-haired owner had fussed over one of her favourite customers as she were her own blood and accepted the girl’s CV without question, explaining that her wife had been in a similar situation a few years ago, with parents who wouldn’t accept her for who she is.   
The rumour mill worked quickly at their high school. The Minatozaki Sana had been kicked out of her own home, only days after she had kissed Im Nayeon on stage. Was it because of the showcase? Were the old rumours true? Was Minatozaki Sana actually a lesbian?  
The rumours spread quickly into the pta, and disapproval soon followed. The Myouis and the Parks were vocal members of the pta, and they weren’t afraid to voice their disapproval. How could someone be so cruel to kick out their only daughter because something she couldn’t control?  
A few days after Sana turned up on Jihyo’s door step, after a few nights of sleeping on Jihyo’s couch, Mr and Mrs Minatozaki made an appearance, demanding to take their daughter home. According to Jihyo, her parents hadn’t given up Sana without a good fight.   
Thinking about it made Nayeon bristle. Yes, they had taken her back in. But Nayeon knew it wasn’t out of the goodness of their own hearts (like they had any hearts) but for the sake of appearances. They even told Sana that saving face was more important.   
Part of Nayeon wished that Sana had stayed at Jihyo’s. Her parents had become even more controlling than they were previously. Sana’s social life had gone out of the window. Her time out of the house was limited to school, basketball and dance club, school council meetings and then work. Her parents were happy to let their child work every evening after school, they had made it clear to Sana that she was on her own the minute that she left the house. Nayeon had stopped asking about the bruises that occasionally marred Sana’s soft cheeks. She didn’t need to ask. She just had to be there for her girlfriend when she inevitably broke down on her. She would always be there for her.

The clock struck five and Sana emerged from behind the counter and sat beside her girlfriend.  
“What are you thinking about?” she asked girlishly. Nayeon smiled dreamily.  
“You,” she replied. Sana laughed.  
“Sappy,” she chuckled before kissing Nayeon’s cheek sweetly.   
The older girl felt herself blush, she smiled down at their entwined hands. The brunette glanced at her watch.  
“What are you doing off work? I thought you finished at six?” she asked. Sana smiled devilishly.  
“Yongsun-unnie let me finish an hour early,” she revealed.  
“Why?” Nayeon crumpled up her nose, watching the pink haired woman behind the counter put someone’s cash into the register and then run off to make their coffee. It seemed like the manager had everything under control.  
“I asked her,” Sana shrugged, “It’s not like she’s going to pay me for this hour. And I did an extra couple of hours at the weekend so I can afford to take this hour off.”  
“By, ‘I asked her’, do you mean you asked her wife because Byulyi is the biggest softie going and Yongsun can’t say no to her?” Nayeon laughed. Sana had been working at the café long enough for Nayeon to know how things worked in that café. Sana snorted ungracefully.  
“Obviously,” she chuckled. Smiling, Sana slid around the table so that she was seated next to her girlfriend instead of in front of her. She nuzzled her nose against Nayeon’s cheek like an overly eager puppy and threw her arms around the brunette’s waist. “My parents think I finish at six,” she whispered into Nayeon’s ear.  
“Oh,”  
“You have me for a whole hour,” the Japanese girl whispered seductively.   
Nayeon’s mind turned to mush and her cheeks flushed red. Almost instinctively, she turned her head to capture Sana’s lips in a heated kiss.   
“Quickie in the bathroom?” the older girl suggested quietly. Sana pulled away with a squeal and batted the brunette’s hand away from her thigh.  
“Don’t be gross, Nayeon! I could get fired for that!” she laughed. Smiling sweetly, she rested her head onto the older girl’s shoulder. Nayeon felt her heart melt when Sana looked up at her with her doe eyes full of love. “I just want to spend the next hour with you.”  
Nayeon smiled down at her girlfriend. Sana didn’t tell her very often that she loved her, not directly anyway. But Nayeon knew that those words, “I want to spend the next hour with you” were Sana’s way of saying ‘I love you’. The Japanese girl sighed contently.  
“Tell me something funny.”  
And so, she told her the story Chaeyoung told the group during the lgbt society meeting earlier that day. It was common knowledge within the school that Chaeyoung and Dahyun were dating, and had been since after the winter showcase. However, even six months after the show, very few people had figured out that they were also dating Mina. The Japanese girl wasn’t very touchy feely and was fond of privacy, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t hold her girlfriends’ hands in public or give them the odd kiss on the cheek, but people tended to assume that she was just ‘very good friends’ with Dubchaeng.  
That was until, Chaeyoung told them, recently. A girl in Chaeyoung’s year had walked up to her and told her that Dahyun was cheating on her with a girl in her own year. Confused and betrayed, Chaeyoung had asked this girl to explain why she thought that. The girl had explained how earlier that day, she had caught Dahyun making out with someone on top of a piano in the music practice room. Chaeyoung had simply laughed.   
“Was the other girl the school council treasurer, by any chance?” she had asked the mortified girl innocently. Having received a “yes”, the short girl had laughed even harder.  
“So, you saw my girlfriend making out with my girlfriend? Hot,”  
And with that said, Chaeyoung had walked off. Apparently, she heard the girl mumble to herself,  
“Son Chaeyoung is dating Myoui Mina and Kim Dahyun? What a legend,”  
Although, Nayeon wasn’t sure if the last part was true.   
Nayeon continued to tell Sana, who was pissing herself laughing, that Chaeyoung had proceeded to tell them that she had been in the music room at the time when Mina and Dahyun were having some ‘alone time’. She had been sketching them kissing each other (because, Nayeon interjected, she’s a total weirdo). She had also shown the lgbt society her drawing. It was a lot more explicit in the drawing than it was in real like.  
“And now I can’t get the image of Mina and Dahyun making out on a piano completely naked out of my head,” Nayeon finished the story. Sana’s laugh made her tingle in the best way possible.  
“Out of context, that sounds really pervy,” Sana commented.  
“Yes, but you’d understand if you saw the drawing. It was so detailed. My eyes have been scarred,” the older girl announced dramatically. Her girlfriend smiled softly.  
“You’re so dumb sometimes,” she laughed. Nayeon grinned cutely and rested her chin on the heels of her hands, forming a flower around her face.  
“I love you,” she said in her cutest voice. Sana squealed delightedly and pressed little kisses to Nayeon’s cheek. 

An hour flew by.   
Soon, Nayeon was forced to hang back inside the café, out of sight, as Sana walked outside and got into her parent’s car.   
Before she left, Sana had given Nayeon a kiss to remember followed by a casual wink and the promise to ‘talk later’ if her parents let her keep her phone. Nayeon didn’t have much hope.   
As the Japanese girl entered the car, the brunette made her way towards the door. She stepped outside just in time to catch the forlorn expression on her girlfriend’s face as the car drove away.  
It pained Nayeon to see Sana be taken away from her at the end of every day. She knew that Sana couldn’t be herself at home. She knew that the only reason Sana was even at home was because her parents forced her to stay to preserve their reputation.   
Better no daughter than a gay daughter, they had once said, but society said otherwise.  
Nayeon was proud of her girlfriend, of course she was.   
Not everyone could go through all the shit Sana’s parents put her through and still be so optimistic and kind and loving.   
It was funny, wasn’t it?  
Sana had once done everything she could to hide her true self from her parents, going so far as to publicly out the girl she loved to preserve her own reputation. But then Sana had come to accept herself, and in doing so accepted that she had fallen in love with Nayeon. Everything Sana had done had been for nothing. Her parents had found out about her sexuality anyway, although she at least had been able to tell them herself.   
Nayeon thought that she should be mad that what Sana had done to her in the past was so futile. But she wasn’t. Her experiences shaped who she was. Nayeon thought that she should be mad and bitter, but she wasn’t. Not anymore. All that resentment and anger had gone. Only love remained. And pride. She wasn’t mad that Sana’s parents rejected her, but still managed to control every aspect of her life. She was proud that Sana found herself a job to fund her future and managed to squeeze in time to be with her friends and her girlfriend.  
Nayeon loved Sana.   
She supposed she had the societies to thank for that. Lgbt society for putting Nayeon back onto Sana’s radar, for forcing the Japanese girl to think about Nayeon and come to terms with what her past actions. Theatre club for forcing Nayeon and Sana to be in the same room together and work past their differences for the sake of the club.  
Nayeon smiled softly at the back of the black car that was driving down the road. Yes, she was proud of her girlfriend. Still smiling to herself, Nayeon set off to walk back home.  
Her phone buzzed.  
It was a message from Sana.  
“I love you, too.”  
Nayeon grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed the final chapter. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> TTFN lads.


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